Battle Scars
by LilWinx
Summary: Based on TV show. AU/OOC Rose is a surgeon and wakes up after a one night stand, a hot sexy Russian on the floor of her living room. First day of work and it is hell, only to be made worse by discovering her one night stand was her boss! Would his charm overwhelm her and make her fall in love? or Will her past make her run?
1. One Night Stand

**Disclaimer: Not my characters or plot/dialogue**

**A/N One shot for now… based on my fave tv show… please don't read my other fics.. they're shit… I'm going to see if this is a good story to continue on. OOC though. **

Her head pounded, and the alarm rang in the distance and only made it worse._ Oh god worst hangover ever_ she thought. The events of the previous night at the bar, poured into her head, the man with his gorgeous brown hair rested on his shoulders, and the scent of his aftershave overwhelmed her with desire.

_"Hey, is this a good place to hang out?" he said, in his god damn sexy Russian accent. He turned to the bartender "double scotch, single malt please" _

_"Wouldn't know, never been here before" I replied, looking away. The bartender places a cup on the counter and puts it in front of the man._

_"Ah… you're ignoring me" he smirked, oh GOD his smile._

_"Um trying?" I said, his smile grew wider and my heart jumped out of my chest._

_"You shouldn't ignore me"_

_"Why not?"_

_ "I'm somebody you need to get to know to love"_

_"Gosh you really love yourself don't you?"_

_"Ha! Just hiding my pain... So what's your story?" he asked, as he raised an eyebrow, at the same time sipping his scotch._

_"No story, I'm just a girl in a bar" I say in return, throwing back the second shot of tequila._

_"Right, and I'm just a guy in a bar"_

_The conversation didn't end there, it ended up at my place, on my couch with his hands all over my body, his oh so gentle touch, making me feel like the only girl in the world. My hands running over his chest… his abs…_

She snapped out of her trance, and looked for him. He lay on the floor, face down, a blanket covered his naked body. She glanced down at herself_, I'm fully naked and exposed to the cold of the world_. Gently she pulled the blanket off his body and wrapped herself with it. She grabbed the nearest pillow and dropped it onto his ass. He jolted awake, and gave a low growl through the soft tender lips, he reached for her bra and lifts it up.

"This is uh… uh…" he said, his hair was wild, disheveled whatever you want to call it.

"This is humiliating on so many levels" she stated, as she snatched the bra from his fingers. _God those fingers. _"You have to go"

"Why don't you just come back down here and pick up where we left off?"

The combination of his bare chest, and the playful gleam in his eye was almost enough to make her say 'heck yes'.

"No seriously, you have to go" she said reluctantly, and the brushed her hair out of her face "I'm late which isn't going to be good on your first day of work, So…"

"So um, you actually live here…" he said, trying to make conversation.

"No!" She said hurriedly, "Yes… Kind of"

"Oh? It's nice… a little dusty but its nice" pulling up his pants. _God could this conversation get more awkward?_ "So how do you 'kind of' live here?"

"I moved here… uh 2 weeks ago. It was my mother's house. I'm selling it"

"Oh I'm sorry…"

"For what?"

"You said was?"

"Oh! My mother's not dead… we don't have to do the thing"

"What? We can do anything you want"

"No the thing, exchange the details, pretend we care" She replied quickly dismissing his ideas, the smile crept up onto his face again, so _dreamy_. "I'm going upstairs to have a shower… okay? And when I'm back down here… you won't be here, so um good bye um…" that was when she realised she didn't even know his name. _What the heck was I thinking last night?_

"Dimitri" he said, holding out his hand.

"Right… Rose… yeah… mhm" she mumbled, he jumped over the couch, and stepped closer to her.

"Nice meeting you"

"Yeah um… bye Dimitri" She said shyly, hiding her laughter and she dashed up the stairs.

She ran down the stairs to her car, ready for her first day at the hospital. She was an intern, a baby surgeon fresh out of medical school.

She pulled open the door, the chief of surgery stood a few feet in front of her already beginning his introductory speech. He kept going on and on about how their lives would be a living hell for the next 7 years. He pushed to door open to the surgical theatre that waited on the other side, everyone stepped around the room, looking at all the instruments, the scalpels, clamps, lights… everything.

She and 3 other interns, Mason Ashford, Lissa Dragomir and Mia Rinaldi, walked down the hallway, their resident standing at the end. The Nazi she thought, that's what they all called him, and his reputation was hardcore. Alto.

"I have 5 rules memorise them. Rule number one don't bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not going to change." He walked off, "you answer every page at a run, a RUN people that's rule number two!" he gestured his interns to follow. He continuous to recite his rules and hands out the assignments. He handed Rose the chart for a 15 year old girl, Camille Conta, who began seizing on her way into the hospital. "Take her up to CT"

She pushed the bed up and down every floor of the hospital looking for CT.

"You're lost aren't you?" the girl said.

"I'm not lost. How are you feeling?" Rose asked, pushing the bed out of the elevator.

"You are so lost, what are you new?" She said.

After 3 floors, she eventually finds the CT room.

"Camille is a bitch" Rose ranted as she sat down at the table with her fellow interns.

"Hi, everybody , I'm Dr. Ozera, as the attending on call for the OR today, I get to pick the intern who will get to scrub in with me on today's appendectomy. This intern will be the one that shows the most promise" Dr. Ozera patted Mason on the shoulder "Dr. Ashford, you will be scrubbing in congratulations"

"Did he just pick me?" he asked, but no one replies, jealous that he was chosen.

Two worried parents run into the hospital, weaving in and out of doctors and nurses.

"Camille Conta please?" she asked one the nurses.

"Room 2204" the nurse replied.

"Oh Camille" she cried, dashing into her daughters bedside.

"She was given a sedative during her CT scan, she's still a bit groggy." Rose informed, as the father turns to her.

"Our family doctor says she might need surgery, is it true, does she need surgery?"

"Oh… Um I'm not the doctor, I mean I am a doctor, but I'm not her doctor" she fumbled "I'm just going to get him." She raced out the door looking for Alto, she opened the door only to bump straight into him.

"What do you want?" Alto asked, angrily.

"Camille's parents have questions, should you come? Or should I ask Dr. Ozera?"

"Ozera is not on the case anymore, Camille is under the new attending, he's over there, Dr. Belikov I believe."

She looked into the direction he was pointing at. There he stood in his 6 foot 7 glory, his hair touched his neck, slightly moussed. She stared at him in horror. _I SLEPT WITH MY BOSS!_ He looked up her direction as if he noticed her presence, but glanced back down at the chart in his hand. As if he only just realised he looked back up, a look of complete surprise, a smile formed on his face. Without another thought she bolted out the door. _Holy Crap_.

She sped down the hallways getting as far away as she can, thoughts overwhelm her mind. Before she could turn the corner, an arm pulled her into the stairwell.

"Dr. Belikov!" she squealed, checking the stairwell for other people.

"Dr. Belikov?" he asked curiously, the sexy Russian accent sank deeper and deeper in to her bones "This morning it was Dimitri, now its Dr. Belikov"

"Dr. Belikov, we should pretend like nothing happened"

"What never happened? You sleeping with me last night, or you kicking me out this morning, both fond memories I'd like to hold onto"

"No! There will be no memories! I'm not the girl in the bar anymore and you're not the guy! This can't exist! You get that right?"

He nodded "You took advantage of me and you want to forget about it?"

"I did not take advantage you!"

"I was drunk! Vulnerable and good looking and you took advantage."

She couldn't help but smile at his ego.

"Okay I was the one who was drunk and you are not that good looking."

"Maybe not today," he conceded "but last night… last night I was very good looking, I had my red shirt on, my good looking red shirt, you took advantage"

"I did not take advantage" she begins, only to be interrupted by him "Do you want to take advantage again? Say Friday night?"

She looked at him and hesitated, the smile was becoming too tempting. "No! You're an attending and I'm your intern! Stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like you've seen me naked!" his very dreamy smile began to form. "Dr. Belikov! This is inappropriate! Has that ever occurred to you?"

The smile vanished from his face and a look of disbelief replaced it. Rose walked out of the stairwell feeling extremely turned on.

She walked into the gallery, overlooking the surgery being performed by Mason.

"He's going to faint! He's a fainter!" said an intern following her into the gallery.

"Ha! 10 bucks he messes up and burns"

"15 that he cries"

"20 on a total meltdown"

"50 that he pulls it off" Rose said, rooting for her fellow intern. Everyone turned to look at her, shocked expressions plastered on their faces. "Down there… Is one of us, where is your loyalty?"

"75 says he can't even ID the appendix"

"Oh I'll take that action"

"Here it comes"

The surgery began, and Mason took out the appendix.

"The appendix is out" Mason said. He got stuck and suddenly the blood pressure dropped and the patient began to arrest.

"Dr. Ashford!" Ozera yelled, "You're patient is crashing! What are you going to do?"

"Uh…" was all Ozera got as Mason became completely speechless.

"Get out of the way!" Ozera says, shoving Mason to the side "Get this pansy ass out of my OR"

"Double O Seven" Eddie one of the interns declared.

"Definitely 007"

"What does 007 mean?" Mia asked.

"License to Kill" Rose replied, looking down at Mason who stood there disappointed. Everyone stood and left the gallery. Her pager went off right at that second, _911_ it read.

"Shit! I have to go!" she ran fast and hard towards the room that Camille was in. "Move!"

She entered the room and Camille sat there with a magazine.

"Took you long enough" Camille said, putting the magazine down.

"You're okay? The nurse paged me 911"

"I had to go all exorcist, just so she picked up the phone!"

"Wait, there is nothing wrong with you?"

"I'm bored"

"You little!" she said, not even wanting to finish that sentence, she was too tired. "I'm not a cruise director! Okay this is an actual hospital, there are sick people here, go to sleep and stop wasting my time!"

"I can't sleep! My head's all full"

"That's called thinking! Go with it"

The morning rolled over and she had no to very little sleep over the last 19 hours. She looked jealously towards Alto who slept on a gurney in a darkened hallway. Her pager went off again for the 2rd time that shift.

"Dammit Camille" she said walking up to her room, nurses ran in and out of her room.

"What took you so long!" cried one of the nurses running into the room. Camille shook violently on the bed.

"She's loaded on diazepam and it hasn't stopped the seizures" yelled the nurse over the frantic beeping of the heart monitor

"Okay give her phenobarbital" Rose said hesitantly. Medical words blurted out of her memories, confusing her with what was needed.

"Pheno is in" said the nurse as she injected the drug into the central line.

"No change" said another nurse, as tried to hold Camille down. The heart monitor squealed _Flatline_. "Heart stopped!"

"Code Blue!" cried the nurse that monitored her heart rhythm, nurses ran in and out of the room, and the yells began to sound muffled.

"I… Charge to 200" I commanded, placing the defibrillator plates onto her chest, "Clear"

"Still in V-fib" said a nurse

"Okay Charge to 300… Clear"

"No response"

"Charge to 360… Clear"

"No change"

"Charge to 360 again"

"It's been 60 seconds you have to administer a drug"

"Charge again!" she yelled angrily.

"Sinus rhythm… we got her" relief washed over her, _thank god_.

Dimitri rushed into the room, taking her chart.

"She had a seizure and her heart stopped"

"Her heart stopped? You were supposed to be monitoring her!" he yelled angrily. "Just go!"

She stared at him in disbelief as he brushed her off. Nausea began rising within her, she rushed out to the parking lot and vomited.

"Rose?" asked her fellow intern Lissa. "You okay?"

"You tell anyone ever" She threatened, walking past Lissa, pulling the door open forcefully.

Later that day, all the interns were called to determine the reason behind Camille's mysterious seizures. After long and brutal time in the library with Lissa, she found it. She ran upstairs to find Dr. Belikov and informed him of her discovery.

"Congratulations Rose, you're scrubbing in"

Several hours later she is on a surgery high, like a drug was pumping through her body. She's standing at the entrance to the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. A soft ping from the elevator knocks her out from her train of thoughts and she steps into the elevator.

"Wait!" yelled a Russian man, reaching out to the elevator and reopening it's doors. He looked at his fellow passenger.

"I'm not going out with you" she said out of nowhere.

"Did I ask you to go out with me?" He smirked, and she glared at him in return. _He's pretending to not know! Jackass! How am I going to get a serious conversation out of this!_? "Do you want to go out of me?"

_Oh now he wants to talk about it._

"I'm not dating you! And I'm never going to sleep with you again. You're my boss."

"I'm your boss's boss" he said.

"You're my teacher! And my teacher's teacher! And my teacher…"

"I'm your sister, I'm your daughter" he mocked, getting slightly annoyed at her adorable yet irritating rambling.

"You're sexually harassing me!" she accused.

"I'm riding an elevator."

"Look. I'm drawing a line, the line is drawn, and there is a big line"

"So this line… is it imaginary? Or do I need to get you a marker?"

_Oh god! It's that smile again! Shit! _She looked at his lips, those soft lips that gave her so much pleasure the previous night. And just like that, she gave up and dropped the charts she was holding and her lips crashed into Dimitri's while as they backed into the wall. Their lips and tongues battled for power as Dimitri wrapped two strong arms around her. He slightly raised her up in order to switch their positions, effectively pinning her between the wall and his body. His hands found their way into her long, soft hair. He moaned slightly as her nails softly raked his scalp and tugged on his hair.

The feelings rushed through her made her feel like nothing Rose had ever experienced before. Every nerve in her body was on fire and she never wanted it end. The loud 'DING' from the elevator signalled that they had arrived on their floor and caused the couple to break apart as soon as the doors started to inch open, Rose pushed away from Dimitri's embrace with a flushed look that only made him want to kiss her again. She desperately she picked up the scattered charts and whips through the doors without a second look back.

**A/N – I'm just gonna leave it there! Have fun =) Let me know, if you want me to continue. Oh and can anyone guess the tv show? But is kinda obvious… LOL… Although I won't update until November so sorry in advance.**


	2. The Beginning of Something Special

**Disclaimer: Not my characters or plot/dialogue. The title of this story is from an Australian artist Guy Sebastian ft. Lupe Fiasco 'Battle Scars'**

**A/N – Wow thank you so much for all your reviews! 3 u all. For you kindness and support, I've decided to write and upload a new chapter for you! =) Oh, If you didn't realise, the previous chapter was edited and I changed the tenses, anyway here it is Chapter 2**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

_KILL ME NOW!_ She thought desperately after a small interview with other interns, when she put up the sign that read ROOMATES WANTED however, she was oblivious to the constant bombardment of people wanting to living with her. _Oh man… It's like running a frat house… but with babies._

"Look I'm sure you're very nice, but I'm very particular who lives in my house and you are just not right…" _More like too young… _Rose says to the other intern who sat in front of her.

"Why?" the other intern asked before propositioning her quietness and 'no party' proposal.

"Where were you when the Challenger exploded?"

"I think I was in kindergarten?"

"Exactly… No." she said, standing to leave. _These people are like preschoolers!_

* * *

"Why do you put up posters if you don't want roommates?" Mia asked.

"Please let me move in! My mom irons my scrubs!" Mason begged his mouth too close to her ear.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Rose replied. She eyed Alto walking into the foyer of the hospital an irate look on his face. He began handing out assignments, _this is the time_.

"Dr. Alto, I was hoping to assist you in the OR today, maybe do a minor procedure, I think I'm ready" Rose requests before lifting a cup of coffee "Mocha latte?"

"Every intern wants to perform their own first surgery; well that's not your job! Do you know what your job is? To make your resident happy… Do I look happy? No. Do you want to know why? Because my residents are whiney, you know what will make me look happy? Having the code team staffed, have trauma pages answered, having the weekend labs delivered and having someone down in the pit doing the sutures" He yelled, taking the latte our of Rose's hands "No one holds a scalpel till I'm so happy, I'm Mary freaking Poppins! Why you all standing there? MOVE!"

* * *

Twelve hours later, Alto's interns stood in front of the nursery, staring at the newborn babies who were playing with their feet. After the day Rose endured she paces desperately wanting the day to end.

"Okay, guys you can move in…" she said giving in, throwing the spare keys to the house over her shoulders.

She walked around of the hospital like a dead man walking, after the day she's had? No one would be surprised, and carrying a penis around all day made it even harder.

_"Oh. My. God… she bit it off!" Rose exclaimed_

_"What? Spit it out Hathaway!" demanded Dr. Ozera, holding a mysterious foreign object from the rape victim's stomach._

_"That's… that's his penis"_

_"Uh!" Dr. Ozera yelped and dropped the clamp into the tray._

The rape victim literally bit off the man's penis, not only was she a fighter, she caught the man too. The rapist walked into the hospital with blood all over his pants.

Rose walked towards the elevator ready to end her long shift, only to realise Dimitri stood there waiting, phone in the hand.

"Seattle has ferryboats… I have a thing for ferry boats… now I have to like it here…" He said not looking up, she looked at him and smiled.

"I am SO taking the stairs this time" she declared, walking forward,

"You have no self-control! It's sad, really," He said disappointedly.

* * *

A dark shadow loomed in her eyesight despite her eyes being closed. _Who the hell is breathing in my room?_

"AHHHHH!" she yelled, as she identified Mia in her bedroom, with a coffee in her hand. She threw the blanket back, and pushed herself out of bed, trying to tune of Mia's incessant whining.

"Mason's room is bigger than mine" she said. _Is this woman serious? SERIOUSLY?_ "I have more clothes so I should have the bigger room"

Rose kept walking, ignoring the crazy talk from woman going on and on about how she hated the size of her room. She walked into the bathroom, closing the door on Mia's face, and reopened it only to take Mia's coffee. _Gosh this will definitely be a long day_

* * *

Stan Alto walked up to the intersection, with heavy thoughts on his mind, he felt like he was forgetting something… something BIG. Dimitri Belikov recognised the small man and walked over to stand next to him.

"Morning Dr. Alto" Dimitri said cheerfully.

"Shut up" Alto replied waving a hand at Dimitri, who glanced at him curiously.

"You get that I'm your boss right?"

"I knew I've forgotten something…" Alto continued in deep thought. "Something is happening today… but I just can't…"

"Alright? Nice talking to you…" He said, as he took a step to cross the road.

"DOCTOR!" Alto yelled, pulling him back to the sidewalk, cars honked as bike riders' ride in and out of the moving cars.

"WOOOO!" yelled one of the bike riders before hitting a stone and flying forward, rolling on the ground.

"Now I remember" Alto said, dodging the bike riders. "Whoa! Dr. Belikov… Watch out watch out"

* * *

"What's up with the Nazi? Off his meds?" Eddie asked, following the crazy man talking to himself.

"You've never heard of the race?" Mason asked,

Alto glanced over to the chief of surgery, "Sir, Dead baby bike race started twenty minutes ago"

"ALRIGHT PEOPLE DEAD BABY BIKE RACE DAY!" the Chief yelled, clapping his hands.

"Every year, the Dead baby bar holds and underground bike race, the race is completely illegal" Mason explained.

"Bike Messengers racing each other for free shots of tequila" Rose continued, putting a trauma gown on top of her scrubs. They pushed and shoved their way into the ER, ready to fight each other for the best cases.

"Oh! It's like candy! With BLOOD" Eddie yelped in delight.

"Oh Mine!" cried Lissa, running to a patient with major head trauma.

"No! I saw him first!" yelled Mia, dashing after the patient into the trauma room.

"Ooo! I'll take that guy," Rose said, looking at the bike spurs penetrating a man's abdomen.

"You're gonna have to beat me to it!" Eddie shouted, leaping towards the man. After a brief argument Eddie ops to tossing a coin "Heads he's mine… Tails he's yours"

"Why do you get to be heads?" Rose asked angrily.

"Because I have a head and you are a tail" he smirked.

"Excuse me…" Rose said, dragging the curtain to cover the patient from the pending dispute with Eddie, "How do you manage to make everything dirty?"

Eddie doesn't reply and flipped the coin, landing on tails.

"Ha! Tails" she said, pulling the curtain away.

"Do you think you could just take these out?" asked the patient, pointing at the spurs.

"We can't just take them out; we need to run tests…" Rose began.

"Ow!" he cried as Eddie pulled the rest of the spurs out of his stomach "Wicked!"

"What are you doing?!" Rose yelled.

"They're a superficial wound… Sew him up and let him finish the race" Eddie demanded. Rose shook her head in disbelief.

"You have a nice touch…" the patient said, as she sewed him up "And you? Are a rocking' babe"

"Seriously? Jesse, do you really think you have a shot here?" she smiled.

"I'd like to think I have a shot anywhere, Hmm…"

"Look you really need to let me take some tests, run a CT, you could have internal bleeding…" Rose said attempting to change his mind.

"No thank you, I've got a bike race to get back to…"

"Why? You can't win now anyway."

"Doesn't mean I can't cross that finish line… There is a party at the finish line…" he said before whispering "Do you want to meet me there?"

"One test? I'll have you in and out in an hour"

"Can't do it got to go…"

"Well you got to know that you are leaving against medical advice and that you need to sign an AMA form?"

"I will do anything you want me to…" he smiled, taking the AMA form and signing it. He slid off the exam table and pulled Rose closer, and pressed his lips against hers. She stared at him in shock and he pulled away. "That was for good luck" he laughed, opening the door. "Don't worry darling… you'll see me again"

"For your sake I hope not!" she yelled after him, turning to clean up the mess she made cleaning the guy up, she couldn't help but smile at the kiss she had just received. She glanced around the room, only to have her attention caught by the man standing outside the window, it was Dimitri. A look of anger plastered onto his face, his hands on his hips. He walked to the side and opened the door.

She gasped in surprise "What do you want?"

"You make out with patients now?" he asked, _he looks like he's holding back a smile. What is he jealous?_

"What are you jealous?"

"I don't get jealous," he stated, closing the door behind him.

"We had sex… Once…"

"And we kissed in an elevator" he informed, a smile crept back onto his face.

"And we kissed in an elevator… Once!"

"Aww… Come on… Go out with me?"

"No!"

"You know I almost died today?" he uttered, the heavenly smile gone, "Yeah I came like this close" he brought his hands together gesturing how close he got "How would you feel if I died? And you didn't get the chance to go out with me?"

"Get over yourself already"

"Come onnn!" the smile appeared again, _dammit do you really have to make this harder than it already is?_

"It's the chase! You think this is a game?"

"What?" he questioned confused.

"You know you're my boss, you know it's against the rules and you know I keep saying no, it's the chase!" she stated, beginning to raise her voice.

* * *

_Rounding SUCKS_! Mason thought as he walks towards the last patient on his rounds. It was a VIP patient, specifically set by the Chief himself. A scent of smoke poured out of the VIP room.

"Hey! There is no smoking!" Mason yelled, taking the cigarette out of his VIP patient's lips.

"Why not?" the patient shot back.

"My god! You're in a hospital" he stumbled looking for the nearest bin. "Smoking… smoking is bad for you! It will kill you!"

"Sweetheart, liver cancer will kill me… smoking… just speeds up the process"

"You're at the top of the donor's list! There is still hope!" Mason said optimistically.

"You know you have really nice eyes… kind, I like a man with kind eyes" his patient said _Is this man flirting with me?_

"Really? You think I have kind eyes?" he replied, clearing his throat "I mean... you can um"

The tension in the room began to rise, _Oh man! This patient thinks I'm gay! Does Rose think I'm gay?_

"What are you examining me for?" asked his patient.

"Oh just some routine stuff" A small moment of awkward silence rolled over, "you're doing really well"

"Yeah, that's because I'm enjoying the view…" _Did he just go there? I think he just did… oh shit._

"Okay…" Mason said awkwardly, not getting out of the room fast enough.

* * *

"Mackey?" the Chief asked, gently shaking his VIP patient, "How we treating you?"

"Oh fine," he said groggily, "Except that beautiful boy won't let me smoke… you should reprimand him, they can change bed pans"

The Chief turned to smile at Mason, a laugh erupted from his lungs.

"Mackey, that beautiful boy may have found you a liver"

Mackey scrunched up his face, trying to stop the tears from forming from happiness.

* * *

"GOD I SMELL GOOD" Eddie yelled, as he slammed the intern locker room door open, he opened his locker and shoved his stuff inside, he turned to Rose who was standing at her own "You know what I smell like? It's the smell of open heart surgery"

Rose rolled her eyes, as Eddie looked down to smells himself "It's awesome. It. Is. Awesome! You gotta smell me!"

"I. Don't. Want. To. Smell. You!" she yelled, his hands wrapped around her shoulders from behind her.

"Oh yes you do" He rolled his head to the side about to put his lips to her ear.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" she shouted, as she grabbed the collar of his shirt, turned him and shoved him against the locker "Okay! I have more important things to deal with than you! I have roommates and boy problems! I also have family problems! You want to act like a frat boy bitch? That's fine! You want to take credit for your saves and everybody else's? That's fine too. But just stay out of my face! And for the record YOU SMELL LIKE CRAP!" at the same moment, the locker room opened and Dimitri walked in, he watched on as Rose kicked Eddie's ass. Rose walked back to her locker, not looking at her boss.

"Dude, she attacked me" Eddie said to Dimitri, _THAT LITTLE SNITCH!_ She ran at Eddie, fuming.

"Rose! Rose!" Dimitri cried, as he grabbed onto her shoulders, and held her back. A touch that sent sparks down his arms. _Damn what is this girl doing to me?_

"You know what? You might want to leave" he told Eddie, grabbing his arm and pulled him out of the room "before I change my mind and let her beat you to a pulp, with her tiny, ineffectual fists"

He closed the door and sighed, she stared back at him.

"What?" he asked,

"Nothing…" she said, shaking her head, and shoved her stuff into her bag "It's just…" he looks on in determination _Is she going to say yes now?_ But she hesitated, and returned to her old answer "Nothing…"

* * *

The next morning, Rose and Lissa walked together towards the hospital.

"They're everywhere… All the time! Mia's all perky and Mason is does this thing where he is helpful and considerate" Rose ranted.

"Kick them out" Lissa answered.

"I can't kick them out! They just moved in! I asked them to move in!"

Eddie chased the girls down into the lobby, ranting about Alto's assignments, and how Lissa gets to perform an organ harvest, from a John Doe that was declared brain dead from the Dead Baby bike race. "I don't like anyone getting an organ harvest unless it is me! And boobs do not play factor in this, unless you want to show me yours?"

"I think I'm going to become a lesbian!" Rose told her friend, and turned to take the stairs.

"Me too" Lissa agreed following in Rose's footsteps.

Eddie watched them leave, and huffed.

"Oh I owe you Mason" Mackey sighed, patting Mason's arm.

"You don't owe me anything, I'm just glad we found you a liver," Mason replied, forcing a smile onto his face, the awkward levels reaching maximum.

"So how bout after this surgery, we go around town, you, me and my new liver" at that instant, that was enough, enough flirting, but how do you do that without hurting a man's feelings?

"Uh… Mr. Mackey no offence but you're not my type…. You're a… um… man" Mason stuttered

"Oh Mason I never thought you were gay" Mackey told him "I am sick, Mason not blind, dying is a get out of jail free card, I can be bold and so I flirt. Haven't you been attracted with someone you couldn't have?"

"Uh… no" he shook his head, dismissing the idea of loving Rose.

"What's her name?"

"Uh no…" He hesitated "… Rose…"

"Ah Rose… to be young and in love"

* * *

Jesse was readmitted to the hospital later that day with internal injuries, and blood basically pours out of the wound she had closed up yesterday. Because of Eddie and his false hope given to the patient led Jesse to believe he could walk out scot free.

_Oh Eddie how I want to just rub it in your face. I GOT TO PERFORM A SURGERY! WHILE ALTO KICKED YOU'RE FREAKING ASS. _

"It's not the chase" Dimitri said, walking into the locker room.

"What?" Rose said, shocked at his appearance.

"You and me" he declared "It is not the trill of the chase. It is not game. It is your tiny, ineffectual fists and your hair"

"My hair?" she paused before she asked curiously, as he came closer and closer.

"It's smells nice, and you're very, very bossy, keeps me in line" He replied gently, as held back his need to touch her. He looked at her lips, dwelling on how much he wanted to kiss her, and make her feel special. The smile beginning to form once again.

"I'm still not going out with you" she said reluctantly, looking deep into his gorgeous brown eyes.

"You say that now" the smile still present on his face, he turned and walked out the door. He left her flushed and wanting more

* * *

**A/N – Not A LOT of RxD but I tried… I wanted to ask if you guys want MAJOR drama, like seriously hardcore, I mean it will be fun to play around with for me but if you guys want just RxD I can do that… =) have fun ;) Next upload with definitely be in November sorry guys... **


	3. Party Time

**Disclaimer: I am seriously going to stress this… I OWN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING**

**A/N – A gift coz i have 9 days between final exams and coz i discovered a moth in my room and i can't concentrate on studying so i wrote a chap just for you all! Thanks to all those who reviewed! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

It was any intern's dream, to stand in an operating theatre with the honours of holding the heart as they observe a world class surgeon perform a coronary artery bypass surgery. Rose was standing in that position right now, living the dream. But she was tired, too tired to even stay awake, her eyelids shut for less than a second and she squeezed the heart, she snapped back to reality, realising what she had done.

"What was that?" Christian asked, finishing the last stitch on the heart.

"Sorry, it just slipped" she said, hurriedly, letting go of the heart, and let it slide back into the chest cavity, as directed by Christian.

"Let's warm her up and take her off bypass," Christian directed, gently squeezing the heart to start it pumping. After 5 minutes the patient's heart still wasn't beating on its own.

"She should be doing this herself" Christian commented, continuing to massage the heart. Rose could feel it, the wetness on the tip of her finger, _I_ _couldn't... could I?_ "Come on Mrs. Patterson"

"Can I get the paddles? 10 joules please" he commanded, holding the paddle, its plates on the heart.

"No change" said the scrub nurse. Rose was getting tense, _could really have? It's almost impossible that I punctured the heart._

"20 joules" he demanded. The heart monitor beeped and the heart rate was being picked up, relief was the only thing she felt at that moment.

She looked at her fingers, finding the tear in her glove, her nail had pooped right though.

* * *

Above in the gallery, Mason and Lissa sat in the front row watching Rose hold the heart. Until Mia walked in, demanding Mason to buy more ice and chips. Rose had allowed Mia to throw a small gathering of people for drinks so that Mia could introduce people to her boyfriend, who was flying in for a visit.

"How many people did you invite?" Mason questioned, wondering why the need for more ice and chips.

"I thought we decided jocks only? Surgery, Trauma and Plastics," Lissa asked, "Who else?"

"Just some people from Peds" Mia answered.

"You invited the preschoolers to Rose's house" Lissa scoffed, "next you thing you says is that you invited the shrinks"

Mia looked away and bit her lips.

"Oh no, she invited mental defects" Lissa complained. "This party is so DOA"

"What about Rose? She still thinks it's just a small meet your boyfriend cocktail thing… Did you clear this with her?"

"No… But I will" Mason and Lissa looked at her, "I promise!"

"Why are you wasting your weekend with your boyfriend with this thing, is he bad in bed?"

"No! I just want him to meet some of my friends"

"Right 60 geeks in scrubs are your friends"

Eddie waltzed into the room, a smirk on his face "I heard there was a party tonight at Rose's place"

"There is a party at Rose's place?" Lissa asked, standing up to leave the room.

"Nope" Mason said simultaneously with Mia's "News to me"

She walked to elevator deep in thought, _should I tell Dr. Ozera?_

"Hey I heard you did a cabbage with Ozera!" he exclaimed, excitement laced in his Russian accent.

At that second, Dimitri walked alongside her, stuffing a forkful of salad into his mouth. Mason followed a few steps behind, oddly feeling third wheel.

"Yeah" she said, the thoughts still throwing itself around her mind.

"Did you get to hold the heart?" He asked curiously at the tone in her voice.

"Yeah" she replied unemotionally.

"Amazing feeling yeah?"

"Yeah" guilt coursed through her veins as she remember what had happened in there, she entered the elevator, avoiding Dimitri's gaze.

"I'll see you later?" he asked, putting another serving of salad into his mouth.

"Yeah bye" at that instant Dimitri knew something was wrong. But before he could say anything the elevator doors closed.

* * *

In the elevator, Rose stood with her head on the door, the remorse pulsating though her body. She fought hard with the raging mental battle in her head, contemplating whether she should tell the intern in the elevator with her.

"I nodded off in there, squeezed it a little…" she began, the nerves sank deeper and deeper, trying to tell someone of the events.

"The heart is a strong muscle, it can take a little squeeze, Rose," he assured.

"I think I may have punctured the heart, my nail popped through the glove" she told Mason, who looked at her surprised.

"But she is okay, right?"

"I really feel I should tell Ozera"

"Nothing happened, you may not have actually punctured it, and the heart started beating again." He said, trying to reassure his anxious friend.

* * *

The chart was sitting in Lissa's hand, but all she could think about was the other day when she accidentally crashed into Christian Ozera, looking into the blue eyes that belonged to him.

A cup of coffee slid across the nurse's station and into her eyesight, she turned to look at the person who had put the coffee there, and her eyes met with the blue eyes, she was day dreaming about.

"It's just coffee" he said, smiling.

"Good" she didn't want to act on her feelings, worried that her career would be on the line.

"Okay" he took his coffee off the table and leaves, only to come back to check whether Lissa had taken the cup with her. His smile grew wider as he noticed the missing cup.

* * *

Dimitri looked over to the lobby nurse's desk, where Rose stood. He thought of the emotionless conversation that had occurred with her earlier that day. He approached the lonely intern and leaned in close.

"You okay?" he easily sees her tense, as she looked at him in surprise.

"Oh Yeah cabbage was long" she reassured.

"Let me take you out for dinner tonight? You can tell me all about it real food, waiters, big chunks of carbs?"

"No! I thought we discussed this no dating, no sort of intimacy at all! And besides I can't," she said, lifting the chart she was working on off the table and walked away.

"Forget about the party" he said, looking at her with the smile on his face.

"You know about the party?" she asked in surprise.

"Your friends can be at the party, you and I can be somewhere else"

"How do you know about the party?" she questioned. _How DID he know about the party?_

"Thanks for not inviting me by the way. That felt good. Dinner, think about dinner." He laughed, walking towards the elevator.

"Well…" she began, but her pager rang _911 Mrs. Patterson _"Shit!"

Loud alarms rang as Mrs. Patterson's heart began to fail and blood seeped through the stitches. Christian entered the room, rushing to try and get the bleeding under control. "Get me an OR! NOW!" he demanded, stepping on the lock to release the bed.

She couldn't handle it anymore, "I popped a glove, when I was holding it, I think I may nicked her heart"

Christian looked at her in sheer horror. _Oh for heaven's sake!_ He thought _Is this girl serious?_

"You damn well should have told me" he said in the OR, taking a look at the damage at the heart.

"I'm sorry" she apologised.

"You don't even know if you were the cause and yet you tell me, in front of the husband" he shook his head.

"I'm sorry" she repeated, the guilt really sinking in.

"Come here" he commanded, gesturing with his fingers "Look at the tear, it's got to take a lot more than a fingernail to make that tear."

He pointed at the major tear across the heart, the laceration deep and started from the top to the bottom

"You are going to go back and talk to the husband, review the history and apologise PROFUSELY. Your ass is on the line here."

* * *

"Did you tell Rose bout the party?" Mason asked Mia, who told Lissa about the alcohol being ordered.

"I'll tell her later" Mia replied, throwing charts onto the gurney.

"Are you sure the party is not because you have bad sex with the hockey player boyfriend?" Lissa asked curiously, digging into her packet of chips.

"We do not have bad sex I just want to show him that as doctors, we have lives and that we aren't just workaholics with god complexes"

"WE ARE workaholics with god complexes" Lissa corrected.

* * *

Rose stood on the catwalk on the phone; Dimitri noticed her discomfort and walked over "Yeah I'll be there at 6:30"

"I heard about the thing" he said, slipping between her and the handrail.

"It's just a notary thing" she said hurriedly, covering her tracks.

"No, about the heart thing, do you want to talk about it?"

"We're adults! When did that happen?" she said, trying to change the subject. She turned to walk away but stopped and looked back at him "and how do we make it stop?"

* * *

"Is this Rose the only one in this hospital who doesn't know the size of this thing?" Mason asked, as Mia told Eddie that she had invited the nurses.

"I will tell her!"

"You can't she already left" Lissa replied, walking past the arguing couple.

"What?" Mia asked shockingly

"Yeah… Something about having an errand to run?"

"You don't think Rose is going to mind about the party right?" Mia asked Mason becoming increasingly worried about holding a party at Rose's house.

"I want you to make it very clear to her that I had nothing to do with the party… NOTHING" Mason shouted.

* * *

Rose drove home in silence disappointed at the nursing home for letting things end up the way it did. She approached her house and loud pumping music resonated from it.

"Mia I'm going to kill you" she threatened, pulling into the driveway

People she didn't even know entered the house with her. She noticed Mason walking deliriously towards the living room.

"Where is Mia?" she yelled over the loud music "this was supposed to a little meet the boyfriend thing!"

"She didn't clear it with you?" Mason shouted, shaking his head in disbelief

"I can't handle this!" She cried, yanking an antique urn from a random man's hands.

"You want me to kick everyone out? I will kick everyone out" He exclaimed opening his mouth to get ready to yell.

"BABY YOU MADE IT!" Lissa screamed, jumping onto the table, obviously excited at the newest addition to the party.

"Screw it, gimme this" Rose said, snatching the bottle of tequila from Mason's hands. She didn't give a crap about the state of her house anymore, _today was such a bad day_.

"I MADE IT!" Rose hollered, taking a large swig of the alcohol in her hands. She joined her friend on the table dancing to the upbeat music playing from a stereo she didn't even know she had.

"Masoonnn! Come here!" Lissa urged, only to get a no.

"COME ON MASSONNNN!" Rose screeched, pulling him onto the table, and danced along to the music.

"Why did we become surgeons?" Rose asked, completely overwhelmed by the alcohol she had consumed.

"Surgeons are serious business" Mason replied, totally wasted. "Full house!"

"Royal flush! Get naked baby boy" Lissa smiled, pulling the cards that stuck to her face and turned them over to show Mason.

"God! Rose, You're drunk" Lissa said, taking the bottle of tequila from Rose's hands

"Is Mia Rinaldi here?" asked a mysterious sober man standing in the doorway.

"Oh you are Hank" Lissa replied, standing up and leaning on the door just behind his head. "Oh your very large, and hockey like, Mia is not here right now"

"You and Mia will make very tall blonde Barbies" Mason commented, looking up and down at the Hank's body.

"Mia said she'd be at home, not that there would be a party"

"Which pisses both of us off" Rose stated, taking another drink of tequila. "Oh and we're low on ice"

"Seriously?" he asked in disbelief

"So am I!"

* * *

In the on-call room, Christian slipped off his shoes and pulls his scrub top over his head, and suddenly the door opened to a drunken Lissa. _Huh?_ He looked outside, watching people walk past. She closed the door and locked it.

"Thanks for the coffee" she said, softly. He pushed his hands against the bunk bed, he turned to look into the eyes of the woman that stood next to him. He pushed her head back gently and pressed his lips onto her, his tongue plunged into her mouth as she opens it. Their tongues glided with each other, heat rose in the room. He slipped his hand to her neck and pulled the strings loose on her scrub pants, and lifted her shirt above her head.

* * *

Rose danced unstably on her driveway with tequila in her hand, Dimitri leaned on his car watching her hips sway to the softer music, swinging her head from side to side.

"You know at some stage you are going to get arrested for that" he commented, and caught her attention. The muscles in her face pulled her lips into a smile and she stumbled down the driveway.

"So you blew me off for a bottle of tequila. Tequila is no good for you, it doesn't call, doesn't write, it's not nearly as much fun to wake up to."

A drunken Rose, leaned into his chest, and pressed her lips to his. He kissed her back, and his hands slid against the soft curve of her hips.

"Take me for a ride Dimitri," She laughed against his lips, and pushed him towards his car. They laughed their way into the car, their lips never leaving each other's. He sat in the passenger side, lifting her up so she straddled him; he kissed her lovingly, savoring every moment with her. He pushed the passenger seat down, to give them the extra room. She unbuttoned his shirt and slid her hands onto his bare chest.

He threaded his hands through her soft brown hair before they made their way down to the hem of her shirt, lifting it above her head. Leaving her bare in her bra, she beamed at him, as she pulled her pants off skillfully. He quickly unbuckled his belt, and pulled his pants down as far as they could go, kicking the rest off with his feet. Dimitri reached into the glove compartment of his car and pulled out a condom, she quickly took it from his hands and rolled it onto him, her desperate need for him to be inside her made her movements fast and swift. She kept her lips locked onto his lips as she lowered herself onto him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, locking herself onto his body, not shifting to move, dwelling on the feeling of him inside her.

"Roza…" He breathed her name and wanted to move inside her but couldn't. She clenched her tight walls around him, successfully holding him in place and driving him mad. "Roza…"

He groaned in relief, as she released her hold, and he didn't waste any time to pound forcefully into her, over and over again, her screams increasing in intensity. She wrapped her legs around him lifting herself up to meet his powerful thrusts. Her fingernails dug into his flesh and she threw her head back as the force of the climax ripped through her body. He pushed into her for the last time letting his own release to flow through his body.

They stayed still for a couple of minutes, waiting for their trembling limbs and laboured breathing to ease while still experiencing the aftershocks of their pleasure.

"You know it's sounds like that party is winding down," He smirked.

"What?" she said, giggling to his comment.

"Listen to me!" he said playfully, "You probably should sneak inside"

"Oh we've done enough sneaking for the night. It was good sneaking but enough sneaking"

"Yeah it was pretty good sneaking," he uttered, and brushed her hair out of her face, as she moves in for a kiss. A tap at the window knocked the couple out of their passionate moment, and noticed Stan Alto at the window.

"Do you mind moving this tail wagon? You're blocking me in," he ordered, seemingly oblivious to the couple's lack of clothing.

"Apparently not good enough" Dimitri cleared his throat; his hand brushed her face, and looked back at Alto walking away. Despite the generous amounts of tequila she had ingested _Oh god _was all Rose thought

* * *

**A/N – Yay! Go tequila! Not as long as the other chapters but I wanted to end it there… it's worth it… Oh btw this story will be my take on what I wanted with Grey's Anatomy… so it storylines may change in the 8****th**** to 9****th**** chapter. Go wild! Cyaa =) **

**I want to know what you guys think so review =) Thanx~**


	4. A Warpath

**Disclaimer: I own nothing…**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Intimacy is a four syllable word for 'here are my heart and soul, please grind them up into hamburgers and enjoy' it is both, desired and feared, it is difficult to live with and impossible to live without. Intimacy comes along with life's three R's, relatives, romance and ROOMATES.

Mason walked down the hallway of his house holding two coffees in his hand, he approached Rose's door, he lifted his hand, only to realise his hands was full and in attempt to hold the two coffees and knock on her door, he accidentally poured the coffee all over his pants. _Far out…_

"Wouldn't it be better if you just asked her out?" Mia asked, patting his back, as she walked pass, only make the spill worse.

"She's going to be late" Mason told Mia. "We should wait for her"

"Definitely not, I'm not her mother and you are not her boyfriend, not yet anyway" Mia said, not trying to her hide her amusement.

"Stop! I told you I'm not interested" he declared seriously, despite his obvious anger, it had no effect.

"Life is short, Mason, do you really want to die before asking her out?" Mia grinned.

"I do not want to ask her out!"

"Do you really want to die a liar?" Mia said, walking past him and out the door.

"I'm not… I'm not dying" he called after her.

* * *

The alarm sent an ear-piercing squeal, Rose groaned and pressed snooze once again. She didn't want to go in that day, after the car sex with Dimitri the other night and got caught; she didn't want to face Alto ever again. The shit she's been getting the past few days from Alto were really starting to wear her out, scut, scut and more scut.

When Rose realised her friends had left, she rolled off the bed and landed with a thump of the wooden floors. She groaned and pushed herself up, her arms felt like jelly from all the labs she ran, the tons of charts she had done, the list was seemingly endless. She looked up at the clock, _5:40am_… it took her a moment to realise that her shift started in 20 minutes and she was nowhere near ready for work. She shoved her stuff into her bag, throwing on a pair of jeans on the floor, and raced towards her car not even bothering to change. _I'll change at work…_ she thought to herself.

She drove down the freeway into work, randomly parking in the employee's parking lot. The force of the turn she took to park her car made her bag fall out of the passenger seat and spill its contents into the footing area. Angrily, she got out of her car and ran to the other side. Rose stashed her stuff back into her bag; and she heard another car pulled up behind her, into the empty parking space next to hers. A slight squeak of the door alerted her to the open door of the other car. She turned around only quickly and Dimitri got out of his car. Making them stand face to face in the parking lot.

"Crap!" she yelped, stepping back.

"Crap?!" he complained, trying to read her expression.

"Hi! I'm late" she said, rushing off to the lobby.

"You're avoiding me!" he yelled after her, closing his car door.

"Yeah, but also late" she said, as he caught up to her.

"Are we going to talk about this?"

"No" she said quickly, rushing towards the elevator.

"About us and Alto and what he saw"

"I don't need to talk about it, I experienced it… Naked"

"This is getting complicated"

"Complicated for ME! I'm the intern sleeping with the attending! Alto isn't even speaking to me now"

"Not that that's a bad thing?" he asked rhetorically. "If I was a better guy, I'd walk away"

"Yes, you would" she argued.

"Do you want me to be a better guy?" he asked in all seriousness.

"Yes… No…" she said, raising her arms as he closes into her personal space, she made another attempt to avoid the building tension. "Crap! I'm late"

"Take your time…" he cried, turning to the elevator, as she ran off to take the stairs "think about it"

* * *

Lissa and Rose rushed to keep up with their fellow interns, who were speed walking through the hallways as they attempted to keep up with Alto. The group of interns walked into the room, Dr. Belikov already present.

"Mr. Szelsky, this is Dr. Alto and our fine staff of surgical interns" he said cheerfully, directing his smile at Rose who also came in.

"Welcome to hell, kids" he stuttered, grunting in pain as he was guided towards his bed. Silence fell over the group awkwardly as Alto stares Dimitri down.

"Who's presenting?" Alto asked.

"Neil Szelsky, 63 year old man, admitted for pain management for dyskinesia last night and has responded well to the bolus injections" Mason said.

"Mia, any possible treatments?" Alto asked,

"For Parkinson's disease, deep brains stimulation has shown…"

"Not for Parkinson's" Dimitri interrupted "For spinal pain"

Mia hesitated and looked for her notebook. Dimitri looked towards Rose, telling her to answer though his eyes.

"Intraspinal catheter, that way he can have constant pain medication" she answered.

Dimitri nodded and smiled, "Excellent! This is Dr. Hathaway, she is going to prep you for the procedure and assist"

Alto looked angrily at Dimitri, his eyes drilled holes into Dimitri's face, his face turned deep red.

"You guys make yourselves busy… I'll catch up with you" he seethed. Dimitri walked out the room to answer a page.

Rose stared guiltily at the floor, noting Mason and Mia's glares.

* * *

The elevator dinged and everybody but Dimitri and Stan got off. Both men crossed their arms, and Dimitri turned to Alto as he realised his presence.

"Stan" he acknowledged.

"Excuse me?" Alto replied.

"Well that's your name right? It's on your jacket, Oh fine I'll just call you Alto"

"Oh you think you're charming, and talented with that neurotic and overly prepared hair sort of way, but if you're going to think that I'm going to stand there and let you favour Rose Hathaway"

"I don't favour her! I think she's good!" he defended.

"I'm sure she is" Stan said, sarcastically.

"You know, can I point out, technically, I am your boss"

"You don't scare me, look I'm not going to like advertise your extracurricular activities with my intern, however if I ever see you favouring Rose Hathaway, in any way, I'll make sure she doesn't see the inside of an OR for a month" He turned and walked off the elevator and muttered to himself "just for the sake of balance"

* * *

Rose searched the hospital looking for Dimitri, after a long discussion with her patient's daughter. She felt sympathetic for the young woman, about to be married and not have a father to walk her down the aisle. She saw his figure come out of a viewing room, Alto not far behind.

"Dr. Belikov" Rose shouted, and caught up with him. "Mr. Szelsky, the Parkinson's patient, is he a good candidate for DBS?"

"Yes, but he is not interested" he glanced behind Rose where Alto stood.

"Okay but I think it's worth talking to him again and pushing him"

Dimitri took a big breath "We're talking about brain surgery, it is performed while the patient is wide awake, there is risk of paralysis, a risk of death and the patient doesn't want it! It is not my job to push my patients and it's definitely not yours"

"Okay?" she said, _Why is he being a jackass?_

"Since you're uncomfortable with my decision on this case, it's best if you not scrub in,"

"But…" She began.

"It's a minor procedure, you won't be missed" he interrupted.

_Definitely a jackass_ she thought and walked off

"Jackass" she muttered under her breath.

* * *

"It's just that he blatantly favors me, in front of her, and then he blatantly dismisses me" she complained, taking a seat next to Lissa.

"How do you know he was favouring you?" Lissa asked, getting a glare in return. "Look, you got a brain, you got into this program, just because Belikov just likes you cookies, doesn't mean deserve what you work hard for"

"But it makes me look bad, such a jackass" Rose replies, "I have to end it"

She lifted her pager as it went off_, a page from Jackass, what the hell does he want?_

* * *

Rose raged into the Neil's room, she thought for sure that Dimitri was kicking her off the case. Why had he said those things to her? She had a feeling it had to do something with the fact that Alto was present.

"You paged?" she said, in the nicest way possible.

"Mr. Szelsky, have you considered any of the other surgical options we talked about this morning?" Dimitri asked, taking the pen out of his breast pocket.

"I already told you" Neil replied, his voice shook from the dyskinesia, "I'm already letting you cut into my back, but that's not enough for you, all you guys ever want to do is to cut"

"Dad, please just listen to what he has to say" Neil's daughter begged.

"I already listened" he interrupted.

"Sir, there is a very small window of opportunity here, once your Parkinson's advances to dementia you are no longer a candidate for DBS" Dimitri informed, giving Neil a heartwarming smile.

"Then I'm no longer a candidate, is that what it takes for you to leave me alone?!"

"Alright, I'll come check on you later, try and get some rest." Dimitri said, giving up, he left the room, but Rose stayed behind, as she overheard the conversation between Mr. Szelsky and his daughter. His daughter left the room, tears filled in her eyes.

"If she knows, then why the hell are we still talking about it," Mr. Szelsky tells Rose.

"You have a chance to get better here, and all she is asking you is to try…" Rose advised, leaning heavily against the door. He filled with silence, as if he understood what she's trying to say.

* * *

It was the second time that day, she that she had to search for him. Despite his height and womanizer smile, he was extremely difficult to find.

"Dim… Dr. Belikov!" Rose yelled across the hall.

"Yes, Dr. Hathaway," he said, seriously, as he noted Alto's presence.

"Mr. Szelsky has agreed to DBS," he looked at her in shock that changed into a smile as he realised that Rose had convinced his patient into receiving the treatment.

"Alright then, let's do this," he smiled, grabbing the surgical mask.

"Neurosponge" said the scrub nurse, as she passed the sponge over to Dimitri.

"How you doing Mr. Szelsky?" Dimitri asks, cutting the skin flap off Neil's skull.

"Alright… Where's blondie?" Mr. Szelsky asks calmly

"I'm right here, can't you see me? And for the record, I'm not blonde"

"If this goes wrong, I'm blaming it on you"

"Alright, then I'll stand here where you can see me, now we just have to drill a hole and try to find the place where you control your motor function"

"I can't see my brain from here, aren't you supposed to be learning something?"

"I'm good right here, Mr. Szelsky" she said, taking a hold of his shaky hands.

"Okay Mr. Szelsky, I want you to take deep breath and focus on the pretty girl," Dimitri said, pressing the drill, "Okay this is going to sound really scary but you shouldn't feel a thing." He drilled a tiny burr hole into his skull, the noise causing his patient to squeeze his eyes shut in fear. He inserted the probe into the skull.

"Just keep trying Mr. Szelsky", said the nurse, flipping her hands on top of each other, "I need you to mimic my motions, you can do it"

His hands shook violently as he tried to copy her actions.

"The probe is almost in Mr. Szelsky, you'll know it once we find the right spot," Rose said calmly, watching the x-ray, as the probe entered the motor area. She looked back at Mr. Szelsky's hands as they slowly stopped shaking; he turned his hand over and over on his palm. Tears formed in his eyes, as he watched his own hands mimic the nurse's, without them shaking.

"Well how bout that!" the nurse exclaimed in delight.

"There it is," Dimitri said.

"That son of a bitch!" Mr. Szelsky cried happily as he kept moving his hands, Rose looked up at Dimitri, who looked back at her and smiled behind the surgical mask.

* * *

Together they pushed Mr. Szelsky's bed through the hallways back to his room,

"Alto was on a warpath… I was trying to protect you…" Dimitri said.

"You trying to protect me, is why he is on the warpath, you can't do me favours, you can't ask me to scrub in when I haven't earned it" she replied.

"Okay okay,"

"And you can't treat me like crap, when I haven't earned that either" she said angrily.

"Okay" he repeated.

"I can take care of myself, I got myself into this mess and I…" he looked up at her, and she stopped before she said_ I'm going to get myself out _

"And you'll get yourself out?" he said, reading her mind.

"I don't… I don't know that yet," she corrected. The sound of a pager interrupted their constant staring, she reluctantly unlocked her eyes from his, "Don't let me keep you"

"You did great work here today" he smiled, walking back towards the ORs.

"Dr. Belikov?" she shouted.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I called you a jackass" she apologised, rolling her eyes at the same time.

"You didn't…"

"I did… twice" she laughed, pushing the gurney in to the open elevator.

"Good work, Blondie, if you don't marry him, I will" Mr. Szelsky smiled.

* * *

In the very early hours of the morning after her shift, Rose stood at the entrance of the hospital waiting of Dimitri to walk out of the doors. It was her day off and he wasn't due till the afternoon, so she had prepared a special morning for her and Dimitri. She nervously waited at the entrance her hand resting on the opening of her bag.

"I um… know this place" she said anxiously, putting her hand in her bag, "Where there is an amazing view of the sunrise over the ferryboats," and she pulled out a bottle of wine.

"I have a thing for ferryboats" he smiled.

"I remember" she replied, putting the wine back into her bag. He wrapped his arm around her and guided her towards the car.

They drove through the streets, and finally reached their destination. It was already early hours of the morning before they were even able to leave the hospital, so dawn approached, the sky glowed a dull red as the sun appeared from the east. He stopped the car into the parking space that overlooked the harbor. The bright light from the sun intensified as the sun appeared fully over the horizon, lighting up the gorgeous view of the city. They got out of the car and sat on the bonnet, opening the bottle of wine, and drinking it directly from the bottle.

"Thank you, for bringing me here" he whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. He kissed her cheek and grabbed bottle of wine from out of her hands. She protested but despite her efforts she couldn't retrieve the bottle.

"You're welcome" she said, turning to look him in the eyes, only do dive straight into his soul. He pulled her closer, feeling the exact same, he leaned into her and brushed his lips across hers. Her eyes closed, and pressed her lips onto his, her tongue gliding across his bottom lip. He let her tongue roam his mouth, as he moaned. His mouth tasted heavenly from the wine, they had just drank.

"My place?" she asked, pulling back to take a breath. He smiled and slid off the bonnet and to the driver's side of the car. She followed suit and jumped into the passenger seat.

* * *

**A/N – Just a light chapter. I will be updating more regularly now…Oh i know i haven't clarified who the 'Chief' is but im just going to say it here, the Chief in this story is Abe. And everytime i read over this chapter it feels crap... hopefully i can make up for it in the next few chapters...  
**

**Review!~ Have fun! =)**


	5. You love him?

**Disclaimer: Not my characters or plot/dialogue**

**A/N – Like I said in Chapter 3 this story WON'T be exactly the same as Grey's Anatomy, it will be what I wanted in the story, although it will include events from the show.**

**There is a tiny time jump, just a few days. Oh and some Lissa drama. Dimitri's nickname will be the same as Greys tho… Some of the medical terms are in Australian spelling… my Microsoft word tends to enjoy making me suffer with changing dictionaries.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

*Beep beep beep*

The soft covers of her blanket, grazed the sensitive skin of Rose's naked body, as she lazily reached for the alarm clock, effectively shutting it off. Dimitri's legs were still tangled with hers; she brushed her hands along his legs when he shivered to her touch, he slid his hands up her arm.

"You have to get up now," she said groggily, the bed creaking at their movements. You'd think that the bed would stop creaking after the action that occurred on it that night.

"What?" he replied, wiping his face with his spare hand, which wasn't crushed under her body, "My god what time is it?"

"It's 5:20" she said, turning over and hugging his naked body, and he snuggled his face into her neck. "And I have pre-rounds" she pushed herself over him, making him moan, her body brushing up against his own, "And you have to leave before they see you…"

He pulled her back, and kissed her one last time.

"Oh come on," he deepened the kiss and rolled her back over to her side of the bed, "Just let them see me" he said against her lips.

"Ohhh… Noooo noooo…" she laughed, as he teased her neck.

* * *

Downstairs in the kitchen, Mia stared blankly at the coffee machine, eyes drooped to levels it should never reach.

"Did you get any sleep?" Mason asks, joining her in the kitchen.

"She could at least buy a padded headboard" Mia replied, pouring an extra amount of coffee into her travel mug.

"So who's the guy?" Mason asked.

"You think it's just one guy? Doing all that work?"

"Yeah, do you mind if I don't think about that"

"Aww," Mia pouts "You jealous?"

"Nope, not jealous" he lied.

"Well I am, at least I know she'll be having a long day at work," She said dreaming about the last time she had sex, a loud creak of the door knocks her out of her trance and they both peered behind the kitchen door to see who was leaving.

Dimitri walked down the stairs, looking back at the half closed kitchen door, he quickly darts out the front door.

Back in the kitchen, Mason stared at Mia with wide eyes.

"At least we know brain surgery aren't his only skills" Mia scoffed.

"That can't be! He's her boss!" Mason exclaimed.

"We're late" Mia replied, "He's all of our boss, you know she has been scrubbing a lot on his surgeries"

"No… Rose wouldn't just sleep with him for that… No…" Mason replied, shaking his head.

"Well if she isn't ashamed of it, why is she keeping it a secret?" Mia replied angrily.

"Maybe she didn't, maybe it just happened…" he defended "you know spontaneously last night"

At that moment, Rose pushed the door open.

"Hi, good morning" she said without a thought.

"Morning" Mia replied, "So it sounded like you had some pretty radical sex last night, right? All night long… who's the guy?"

"No one you know…" Rose answered.

Mia scoffed, _what a liar_ "We're late, let's go…"

* * *

In the locker room, the interns prepared for another day. Mia held her travel mug all the way from the house and still held it here. It seemed to be following her everywhere, but yet Rose was still unfazed by her friend's dire need for coffee. Rose couldn't help but yawn, the tiredness not leaving despite the coffee she had consumed that morning.

"I'm going to need a major rush to get through today," Mason complained "I need a kick ass surgery"

"Been a bad boy, Mason?" Eddie asked with a smirk.

"That would be Rose" Mia stated.

"Been a bad boy, Rose?" Eddie repeated, turning to her.

"Ooo do tell!" Lissa said.

"Nothing to tell" Rose replied.

"So, it says it all huh?" Lissa smiled, walking towards Mia, who slammed her locker and strolled to the door. Rose immediately sensed the tension and anger seeping from Mia's face, her face so calm yet so furious.

"I'm sorry! I have a sex life…" Rose apologised.

"Don't apologise… Embrace it! Share it" Eddie hinted, "You can count me in…"

"Well next time, tell me so I can book a hotel room so I can get some sleep" Mia sneered.

"Am I missing something?" Rose asked, totally confused.

"Just a little loud" Mason said, closing his locker, and followed Mia out of the locker room.

"Do they know its McDreamy keeping them up at night?" Lissa asked.

"No…" she started "I hope not… I already have Alto riding me, I don't need my roommates thinking I'm getting special treatment"

* * *

After an excruciating day, Rose walked into her house, and noticed Mia standing in the kitchen spreading icing on her cake. Mia had been a bitch to her all day, telling her that she had deserved to have stomach matter splattered onto her during surgery. Rose could tell that Mia was angry and Rose knew the only thing that would have made her angry.

"I thought you'd be asleep by now" Rose said, striding to the fridge, trying to find out what had been bothering her friend throughout the day.

"Yeah, well I'm not…" Mia replied, licking the icing off her fingers, before sarcastically saying "If you wait a few minutes you can have piece of this cake, baked full of love, actually full of unrelenting rage and hostility"

"So you know" Rose began, "So do you want to know the long version or the short version where I slept with him before I knew he was my boss?"

"Neither! You went to Dartmouth! Your mother is Janine Hathaway! Look at this house! You walk into the OR and there is no one that doubts that you should be there!" Mia yelled aggressively, "I grew up in a trailer park, went to state school, I put myself through med school by posing in my underwear, when I walk into the OR, everyone hopes I'm the nurse, you HAVE their respect without even trying and you're throwing it away for what? A few good surgeries?"

"No! It's not about the surgeries, it's not about getting ahead…"

"Then what? A little hot sex? You're willing to ruin your credibility over it? I mean Rose, what the hell are you doing?"

Rose rolled her eyes, and that's when Mia realised.

"Oh my god! You're falling for him!"

"I am not…" Rose stated unconvincingly.

"Oh you so are…"

"No! I'm not!"

"So are! Dammit! You poor girl"

"You know I'm just so… and he is just so… I'm having a hard time!"

"Yeah you all are…" Mia replied, sliding a slice of cake over to her "mushy and warm and full of secret feelings".

"I hate you!" Rose exclaimed, completely lost for words. But Mia only laughed. "AND your cake!"

"My cake is good…" Mia said, "So how good is the sex?"

Rose slammed her fist on the table, and glared at the girl sitting next to her, "Mia."

"What? Come on… I'm not getting any, help a girl out with some details…"

* * *

Later that night, Dimitri sneaked into the house, and into her room. He smiled when he saw Rose standing in front of the mirror brushing her teeth. He trudged up to her and wrapped his hands around her waist, leaning onto her drowsily. She pulled his towards the bed, a sloppy smile on her face, she really wished he would tell her that they could just sleep.

"You know we could just…" Dimitri said, pulling the blanket back, his eyes sank at the tiredness.

"Sleep?" Rose finished.

"We could… yeah… if you wanted to"

"Yeah?" She replied, kneeling onto the bed

He snuggles into the pillow, breathing in Rose's scent and he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

"Oh thank god!" she said, as she fell into her own pillow.

* * *

Lissa sat in the female toilets, and stared blankly at the pregnancy test in her hand _Pregnant_.

She quickly looked at the other test and it read the same thing. _Oh fuck…_

After the day she'd had, she never thought that anthing could be worse, but this, this was what she had dreaded all day. She wasn't one for abortion, nor could she give up a child either, but she was an intern, she still has things to prove, she couldn't switch to the vagina squad, surgery was her life, her passion, her dream, she wanted to save lives and what lay in her hand right at this very second was about to crush her dreams into smithereens. Thoughts crowded her head, Christian came into her mind, her boss, her sex buddy. She didn't even know if she wanted to call him that anymore, throughout her college life she never slept with any boy that wasn't her boyfriend, but when she got here, she never even considered having a boyfriend, nor did she think about having wild sex with her boss. Now she suffered the consequences, and all she could question herself was whether to tell Christian or not.

* * *

A week later, Rose sat on her bed, watching Dimitri get ready for work. He rolled on deodorant, buttoned up his t-shirt and threw on a sweater. He smiled as she watched,

_Why is he always here… at my house? DOES HE EVEN HAVE A HOUSE?_

Rose walked to the bathroom, where Dimitri was brushing his teeth.

"So let's sleep at your house tonight" Rose said, leaning against the door frame.

"WHAT?" he cried muffled by the toothbrush in his mouth.

"I mean why are we always sleeping at my house? Do you even have one?"

"One what?" he avoided

"A house! With a closet? With all your stuff in it? Your personal stuff? Do you even have one of those?" She asked, bombarding him with her questions.

He swung his bag over his shoulder and gave her a heart-warming smile. He didn't answer her question, he just walked away and into the kitchen.

"Mmm! Good morning!" Dimitri announced.

"Hey…" Mason began "Do you guys want a cupcake?"

"Oh no…" Dimitri pouts and shakes his head, his face scrunched up "I like it here, you said that you like having your stuff around, sleeping in your own bed…" he said, looking at Rose.

"You're like a health nut aren't you?" Mason asked, watching Dimitri grab the box of muesli in the cupboard. "You eat Muesli every morning"

"No I don't…"

"Okay, the Muesli thing… you do" Mia added "The last seven days at least"

"Oh come on… I haven't been here a whole week?" Dimitri exclaimed, putting his breakfast on the table. Rose just stared at him, "Have I?"

"See even they think it's weird…" Rose said.

* * *

When Lissa reached the hospital all she could think about was the positive pregnancy test sitting at the bottom of her sock drawer. Once she entered the lobby, she was met by Christian who stood at the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. She reacted on instinct and walked towards the emergency staircase. She could tell that he noticed her taking the stairs, she was sure that his eyes were on her once she entered the hospital.

The intern locker room was surprisingly uneventful, a place usually so full of complaining interns was now filled with the utmost silence. Many interns yawned and leaned against the lockers. Alto stormed into the locker room, handing out assignments. She and Rose were sent for a consult, a psych patient was being shipped down to their surgical units.

"This guy belongs in Psych, what are you doing turfing him here?" Lissa asked, looking at the CT scan of the patient that was dumped onto them.

"He's my gift to you, he has had seizures" said the psych guy.

"What are you talking about? It says right here that he talks to dead people, his parents think he's dangerous and had him admitted… That's psych! Not Neuro" Rose said, reading the immense amount of patient history on the chart. "Did you even go to Med school?"

"Yes… Unlike the corresponding school you attended…" he shot back.

"Oh so you're dissing Dartmouth?" Rose sneered.

"Sorry ladies." He said, leaving, "We can't be back until he is cleared"

"So you're dumping him on us?"

"He thinks his seizures are visions," Psych guy stated.

"Helloooo? They aren't seizures… I'm psychic!" yelled the patient.

"Of course you are… and I'm a chicken" Rose replied.

"Okay, Mr. Duff, what do you say we start our work up?" Lissa said, cheerfully attempting to raise the tension.

"Work me up… Work me down… I'm telling you it's a waste of time," the patient insisted.

"Can you grip my fingers?" Lissa asked, giving him her fingers.

Mr. Duff pauses and stares into the distance, not replying to Lissa's commands. He snapped back to reality.

"Someone is going to check out…" He said deliriously, "Someone on the fourth floor is going to die…"

At that moment, the P.A system activated "_Code Blue fourth floor"_

"I um…" Lissa said shocked. They both ran out of the room for the patient that was coding.

10 minutes later, the patient was wheeled away to the morgue

"Dead guy fourth floor, just like the psychic predicted, fourth floor dead guy" Mason said, he looked over at Rose and Dimitri walking through the halls, "I think I'm going to grow my hair long, not going to shave, go for the stubble effect"

* * *

Rose questioned Dimitri for hours, grinding him for answers, kissing him in stairwells for answers, but she still couldn't get any. He was being stubborn to mythical proportions.

"It's just I don't know anything about you" Rose complained, as he opened the door for her.

"You know I'm from Russia, and that I like ferryboats" he listed.

"Enough with the ferryboats, what about your friends?"

"I'm a surgeon! I don't have friends!"

"Everybody has friends, who do you hang out with on your days off? These are important questions!"

"Ah! Important to who?" he avoided.

"We're having sex every night I think I deserve details!" she yelled the hallway, not realising her audience.

"You have more details than most…"

"See? This is going somewhere weird! I want facts! And until I get then my pants are staying on…"

"Or you could just roll with it… be flexible" he hinted, "see what happens…"

"I'm not flexible" Rose stated.

"Ahaha! There I disagree" He smirked, as his pager went off, "Hmm… I got to go"

"We'll find these things out, that's the fun part you know? That's the gravy" He said one last time, before running off.

"That's what I'm talking about I don't want to be your gravy!" she yelled after him, she looked around in realisation at the amount of hospital staff standing around her.

In the MRI room, Dimitri and Rose looked at the scan results of Mr. Wilkit's MRI.

"See, this, the guy's films are clear, there is no indication of his creeping paralysis," Rose said, pointing to the clear films.

"It's just so surprising I expected an intrusion into the spinal space, or a bony spur in nucleus pulposus" Dimitri leaned in and looked closer at the scans.

"Well you were wrong. You don't always get what you expect do you?"

"What is your problem?" Dimitri exclaimed, looking at Rose with disbelief.

"Give me something to go on! Anything! What are your grandparent's names?"

"I don't have grandparents"

"Where did you grow up? What's your favourite flavour of ice cream? Where are your favourite places for a vacation?"

"Lighten up! It's good for your blood pressure!" He said, running out to the room, avoiding the conversation.

"Oh don't tell me to lighten up!" she yelled after him.

* * *

"Oh you need to get laid…" Mia said to Mason, who was fighting with Eddie about his failed attempt at intubating, "See that nurse over there? She's hot and she's single go ask her out"

"I case you have forgotten I intubated an oesophagus!" Mason exclaimed.

"I am trying to help you! Buy her a latte and freshen up your gonads!" Mia laughed, walking out of the nurse's station. Mason looked at the nurse that Mia had pointed to, her red hair flowing down her neck, her cute little smile. _Maybe I could like her? Would probably get rid of the love I have for Rose?_

A few hours before the end of his shift, the red haired nurse approached him quickly, asking him to intubate a patient with a low pulse ox. Memories of earlier in the day flowed into his mind, him putting a tube down the man's oesophagus.

He pushed the laryngoscope into the man's throat, and successfully gotten the tube into the man's trachea, and leading to receive praises from the red-haired nurse. He took the opportunity to ask the nurse on a date and her acceptance made his day feel lighter.

* * *

That night, Dimitri guided his girlfriend to the parking lot.

"Where are you taking me?" Rose asked, as he opened his car door for her.

"Trust me!" Dimitri replied, nodding to tell her to get in the car.

After a 20 minute car drive and 20 minute ferry boat ride later, they ended up in a forest.

"Where are we?"

"Shh!" He hushed, "I'm going to tell you"

"Alright," he rubbed his hands together, and turns to stand in front of her, "My mother's maiden name, Belikova ,like my last name but with an 'a' it's a , I have a nephew and a niece, I like western novels and I wear this duster everywhere and I live in that trailer"

He pointed at the silver trailer that sat on the hill, "All this land is mine, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, okay that's it, that's all you've earned for now"

Rose walked up the hill towards the trailer, and turned around, holding out her hand. Dimitri smiled and took her hand. Together they made their way to the trailer, in the open wilderness, to have as much loud sex as they wanted.

* * *

**A/N – Not my best work… just another filler… So the Mason thing was just some foundation for the funny crap that's happening in the next chapter. **

**So the reason why im writing all this exactly the same as Greys is so you guys get a better understanding of the background and such... and its fun!  
**

**Until next time peeps! Review!~**


	6. Love comes at a Price

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Socks, pants and underwear, lay on the bathroom floor as Mason sat on the edge of the bathtub naked, reading a book on 'Rashes, Hives and Skin Eruptions' _oh god, what have I done…_

"Mason! You locked the door! I need to take a shower" Mia cried, trying to open the door.

"Uh… uh… I'll be out in a minute" Mason stuttered, tension in his voice, making it sound a little out of context.

Mia glanced at the door curiously "What are you doing in there?"

"It's private!" Mason yelled.

"Oh! Oh god! I'm sorry! I get it! I didn't mean to interrupt…" Mia said in realization.

"No! It's not that!" Mason shrieked, quickly pulling his pants on "I'm coming out!"

"It's okay take your time, you can just… finish" Mia continued, she couldn't help but giggle at Mason's botched attempt at hiding his 'adventure' in the bathroom.

* * *

Rose was woken up by a warm ray of sunshine staring at her face. Her eyelids cracked open and she was momentarily disoriented. She was lying completely naked in her bed, her hair was dishevelled and tangled. The memories of last night's amazingness flooded into her, she couldn't help but grin. She looked at the clock _5:39am_. She slowly got out of bed, trying to minimise her movements to prevent Dimitri from waking up.

She walked to her closet and got changed; she couldn't help but look at Dimitri, nuzzling into her pillow, a content smile on his sleeping face. She sat down on the chair near the window and watched her boyfriend sleep _Great, he's turned me into a mush of freakish proportions._ She thought, she leaned over to the bedside table and picked up her phone. Rose's phone rang once she sat back down, causing Dimitri to stir, after their late night events, Rose wasn't surprised at his tiredness. _Nursing home_ said the caller ID. She sighed an answered the phone.

"Hello?... Is she alright?... I'm sorry… I have to go…" Rose said on the phone, hurriedly disconnecting the call, to avoid Dimitri's questions.

"Who is calling at this hour?" He asked, reaching for his watch, squinting to look at the time._ Questions are so unavoidable_

"Wrong number" she lied smoothly. She overheard the commotion going on outside, and goes over to the door reaching for the door handle.

* * *

Mason pulled open the door quickly, staring into the eyes of Mia's.

"There is no reason to be ashamed! It's normal! Healthy even!" Mia giggled.

"I'm not ashamed, I don't have to! I have a girlfriend!" Mason corrected.

"An imaginary girlfriend?" Mia laughed, leaning on Rose's door, "Don't worry about it, I get it, you have needs."

Rose opened her door, only to get a falling Mia onto her body.

"What is going on out here?" Rose exclaimed.

"Nothing!" Mason said quickly.

"Nothing…" Mia lied.

"Uh…" Mason said, before walking down the hallway back to his room.

"He's freaked out because I caught him playing with little Jimmy and the twins…" Mia said in a hushed tone.

"I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!" Mason yelled.

"Sounds like fun out here…" Dimitri said, walking out of the room, sliding his strong arms into the sleeve of his shirt. His phone rang; he glanced at the caller ID and ignored it.

"Aren't you going to get that? It could be the hospital…" Rose asked.

"It's not," He replied, stepping away from her, "Breakfast?"

* * *

Mason peeked into the intern's locker room, looking for Eddie. His day couldn't get any worse that asking Eddie to diagnose him with what he seriously hoped it wasn't.

"Eddie, I seem to be having this rash… I think I know what it is but I can't seem to get close enough,"

"Let's see it" he replied emotionless.

"It's kind of in the… you know…" Mason said, pointing down.

"You're a doctor Mason, it's called a penis. You have a rash on your penis?"

"I think I can describe it… its red…"

"Shut up and drop em' Ashford"

After an awkward moment of observation, Eddie looked up at him.

"Dude, you have Syphilis,"

The chief rubbed against his temples, as Dimitri walked into the office. The Chief had dropped a retractor in the OR, it was such a simple task on picking it up but he misjudged the distance between his hand and the retractor knocking it out of the nurse's hands.

"A few weeks ago, the vision in my right eye became blurry and then after a few hours it was fine, and now it's come back" the Chief said frustrated.

"Did you have it checked out?" Dimitri asked.

"Examination was normal" The Chief responded, "But we all know what blurriness in one eye could mean."

"I'll set up a few tests" Dimitri assured.

"Dimitri," he called, "I know how the rumor mill works around here, let's just keep this to ourselves"

Dimitri gave the chief a confidant nod before he could confirm with his words they were interrupted

"Sir, sorry to interrupt, but we sort of have a situation." Patricia, the Chief's assistant, said.

* * *

Eddie and Mason stood in the private exam room, Eddie with a needle in hand.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Mason asked, freaking out, slowly pushing his pants down.

"It's a shot of penicillin, Mason, be grateful I'm even doing this for you, I've already seen more of you than I ever wanted to."

"Okay, we're not doing this!" Mason cried, pulling his pants back up.

"Do you want to get rid of the Syph or not?"

"I can't believe this…" Mason complained, leaning over then exam table exposing his ass to the cold chills of the room. The curtains pulled back, as Rose walked into the room.

"Rose! GO AWAY!" Mason yelled. She flinched but continued to walk into the room. He reached over and closed the curtains, trying to save any dignity he had left.

"What are we doing?"

"Treating his syph…" Eddie laughed.

"MASON YOU HAVE SYPHILIS?" Rose shrieked in surprise, "Well then I'm here for moral support…"

"No! No! No moral support!" Mason said, half turning to attempt to cover Rose's eyes from his uncovered ass, "I'm indisposed here!"

"Mason, It's not a big deal," she giggled, "And you have a very cute butt!"

"I have a cute butt too, you wanna see?" Eddie asked.

"Oh get out! You're doing it wrong," Rose said,

"Be my guest," Eddie replied, handing over the shot of penicillin.

"What?! Eddie!" Mason protested, "Eddie! What?"

As Eddie left the room, Mia walked in, opening the curtains.

"Oh! What are we doing here?"

"Breaking Mason's spirit" He whined.

"Curing Mason's syph" Rose replied, jabbing the needle into his butt. Mason squeaked in pain.

"I don't like needles," Mason grumbled.

"Good thing you became a doctor," Rose stated, putting a band-aid onto his needle mark, "Other side"

"Mia?" yells Lissa, from behind the curtain.

"Yeah?" Mia shouted, as Lissa opened the curtain.

"Oh! What are we doing?" Lissa asked, curiously.

"We are saving Mason from festering sores and insanity," Mia replied.

"Oh! Cute butt" Lissa complimented.

"Told ya" Rose laughed.

"It's cute, like a baby's" Mia smiled as Rose injected the last of the penicillin.

"You know I have spent hours, imagining myself half naked in a room of three women," he said, pulling up his pants and retying the strings. "Reality is so much better" He muttered sarcastically.

He rushed out of the room, leaving behind three giggling girls.

* * *

The chief stood with anger right before them, his hands on his hip. The conference room was crowded with people.

"Three interns, four residents and six nurses have been diagnosed with… syphilis" the chief said with disgust, "If you are having unprotected sex with other members of the staff, get tested immediately"

Everyone in the room, looked at each other and Rose couldn't help but laugh.

"Patricia, will now give a safe sex demonstration" the chief said, rolling his eyes. The room erupted with snickers and giggles.

"Now when the time is right, and gentlemen you all know when this is" Patricia begins, "Carefully open the condom packet, and roll it onto the banana… Open communication is essential in a healthy relationship, in a responsible relationship safe sex practices are to be taken seriously… Condom sense is common sense… and when the condom is used, gently peel off the condom and dispose of it properly, with every fresh banana always use a fresh condom."

The whole conference room, burst into a fit of laughter.

* * *

"You see this?" Dimitri said, pointing to a small dot on the MRI scan. "It's a tumor sitting on your optic nerve"

"Great, I have a syphilis outbreak and a tumor."

"They're probably unrelated," Dimitri joked.

"Is it operable?"

"Yeah, a little complicated but yeah," Dimitri replied.

"Alright, Belikov, let's see how good you are"

"Okay," Dimitri agreed reluctantly, "I'll put a team together"

"Get going, I want to do this tonight," the Chief ordered, leaving the room.

A few minutes after, "You paged?" Rose asked, walking into the MRI room.

"Yeah, can you do something for me? Or well the chief? But can you keep a secret?" Dimitri smiled.

"Better than you think" she laughed.

"We need to perform surgery on the chief, and I need you to talk to Alto." She nodded and walked off, in search of her resident.

Rose ran around the hospital looking and eventually informed him of the events, before Rose could get an answer, Dimitri races up the stairs.

"How goes our special, super, secret, silent, sunset surgery?" Dimitri smiled. "I've been practicing that"

Alto huffed and turned to Dimitri "You have too much time on your hands, tell the Chief I'll be there." Alto turned to walk away.

"Are you nervous?" Rose giggled.

"It's a complicated surgery, if I mess up I end a fellow surgeon's career, oh no, no pressure" he said sarcastically.

"So just for the record, you would tell me if I need to get tested right?" Rose asked, stopping in her tracks.

"You think I have syphilis?" Dimitri whispered, shocked at her question.

"No!" she assured quickly, "I don't it's just we never made any rules or anything"

"When would I have time to go out and get syphilis? You're a handful enough as it is; besides, we're basically a condom ad."

"But no more glow in the dark ones…" Rose snickered.

"You see, there is nothing to worry about" he smiled, "oh and just for the record, I happen to like the glow in the dark ones"

"I bet you do" Rose laughed, going their separate ways.

* * *

After the surgery, Rose looked at her phone, _6 missed calls_ She dialed the nursing home, trying to convince the lady to understand the implications of her job and missing family events was pretty much unavoidable.

"If my mother were lucid, she would understand…" Rose said to the lady.

"Hey," Dimitri nudged, she quickly hung up the phone.

"Hey"

"A lot of secret phone calls today"

"Yeah it's my mother" she looked up at Dimitri, who was writing on the chart. She remembered her mother's words before she was put into the home, dragging her out of a holiday in Europe, to attend to her deteriorating mental status, making her not tell anyone. _I trust him_. "She has Alzheimer's"

He sighed sympathetically "How advanced?"

"Very, she's in a home and I'm to only one who knows she's even sick, I just don't know what to do anymore, you know?" she cried.

He gently brushed her hair away from her face and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. He pulled her in for a tight hug as tears flowed out of Rose's eyes. She laid her head on his chest, breathing in his scent as she wiped her tears.

Meanwhile the Chief, groggily woke from his anesthesia and saw the whole thing.

Rose pulled out of Dimitri's arms, brushing away the tear tracks on her skin.

"I have to check on the Chief" she muttered, taking his chart off the nurses' station and walked into the Chief's room, and looked at his stats.

"Rose?" he said, "He's an attending, you're an intern"

"You saw us?" she jumped.

"I'm going to tell you what your mother would say if she were here… you're making a mistake, a big one…" he accused.

"And I would tell my mother it is not a mistake"

* * *

Rose pulled her stuff from out of her locker and walked to the lobby, watching Dimitri sit there waiting for her.

"Long day" he said when he saw her walking to him.

"Yeah" she replied, tiredly.

"Somewhere in this town has a steak with your name on it, and maybe a bottle of wine," he smiled, kissing her cheek.

"This is why I keep you around" she grinned.

"You and I need to talk" he informed, standing and putting on his jacket.

"Wine first talk later"

"You trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?" He laughed.

Rose puts on her jacket, he steps closer and gently grabs her dark brown hair and pulls it out of the jacket, Dimitri turns to walk out of the hospital, when he sees a woman, long black hair cascading down her back. The woman looks at Dimitri and smiled, walking towards the couple.

"Rose, I am so sorry" he said out of nowhere, turning to her a look of worry on his face. _What?_

"Tasha, what are you doing here?" He asked, looking at Tasha in disbelief.

"Really? You'd know if you'd bothered to answer my phone calls" Tasha laughed bitterly.

"Hi! I'm Tasha Belikova" she extended hand to Rose.

"Belikova?" Rose asked confused, shaking the woman's hand.

"And you must be the woman who has been screwing my husband?" Tasha accused. Dimitri doesn't reply, or doesn't even deny the woman's accusations. Rose looked up at her boyfriend, _Correction… Ex-Boyfriend_

* * *

**A/N – Don't kill me just yet… All part of the plaannn… i know its short... o.O  
**


	7. Shattered Hearts

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – Thank you for all your reviews! Because of your reviews here's the next chapter... maybe this will give Dimitri the sympathy he needs? And for the medical bits i understand how boring it could be but sometimes i need it to happen as it often reflects on the relationships between characters.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Rose sat alone at the bar where she had met Dimitri 2 months ago, which lead to a string of events all leading to the moment of what occurred earlier that evening, she threw shot after shot of tequila down her throat in her attempt to numb the pain.

_"So you must be the woman who has been screwing my husband…" Husband… Husband! HUSBAND!_

She screamed silently in her mind, anger coursing through her body from just thinking about it. She threw back the shot that the Bartender Ambrose had just refilled. She felt the burning sensation glide down her throat, soothing her desire for the alleviation of the agony that hurt to every beat of her heart.

"You look familiar, you been here before?" asked Ambrose, taking her shot cup and refilling it.

"Once, worked out really well…" she replied sarcastically, lifting her glass and emptying its contents into her mouth.

"I know that look, could be one of two things, either your boss is giving you hell or your boyfriend is, which one is it?" He questioned.

"Both…" she muttered, "My boyfriend is my boss, which was the problem, not as big a problem as the fact that my boyfriend has a wife"

He glanced up from his cocktail making and poured tequila into her shot cup, "Tell you what, this one is on the house."

She grabbed the cup quickly and threw it back, savouring the burning of her throat as it anesthetized the agonizing pain of her heart shattering into billions of pieces as it beat in her chest.

* * *

Dimitri and Tasha remained in the lobby after Rose had stormed out of the hospital without a second look back.

"Tasha what are you doing here?" he spat.

"Things are…" she said calmly and paused to look for the right word, "different…"

"A lot of things are different," he hissed, "The ice you're on? Thin"

He walked away from Tasha towards the exit.

"She's young! A wide-eyed 'ooo he's a brain surgeon' thing happening, but still sweet, which was what you were going for right? The anti-Tasha?" She replied.

"If you're here trying to win me back, you can forget about it"

"I did, I flew all the way across the country, just to find out if I can make you fall back in love with me" she teased, "Relax, I'm here for a consult"

"Abe knew you were coming out here?" he questioned in disbelief.

"He asked me to come, didn't he tell you?"

"NO! He didn't" he yelled angrily.

* * *

Back in the bar, Mason and Lissa walked into the bar to join Rose at the bench. Mason looked over at Rose worryingly as she continued to empty her tequila shots despite the fact that she was already drunk.

"Let's play a game of who's life sucks more" Rose said groggily, overwhelmed by the alcohol she had ingested, "I'll go first… I always win…"

"Oh you won't want to play with me…" Lissa said, drinking from her glass of water.

"Oh I do, I'll even go first… Dimitri is married" she told them, Mason choked on his drink spitting his beer out of his mouth.

"Mason, beer is dripping from you're nostrils," Lissa said, disgusted.

"Told you I'd win…" Rose said, as Mason left his chair for the bathroom.

"You didn't win…" Lissa replied,

"Didn't you hear what I just said? I said Dimitri is married, as in an adulterous, lying pigheaded whore, nothing you can say can top that…"

"I'm pregnant…" Lissa stated, Rose stared back at her friend but was too shocked by her words to even say something "I win"

A loud grunt, followed by a thump knocked the girls out of their misery; they turned to find Ambrose on the floor on the bar. Shattered glass surrounded him.

"Okay, maybe Ambrose wins," Lissa said quickly, getting up from her chair and going to Ambrose's aid. They hurriedly checked for a pulse, and examined his eyes. Suddenly, he woke up and tried to get up from the ground.

"You have to lie back down, Ambrose…" Lissa said, pushing him back.

"You called 911? YOU CALLED THE GURNEY PATROL?" Ambrose exclaimed.

"We have to take you back to the hospital and run some tests," Rose said, she turned to Lissa, "You're sleeping with someone?"

"So? Even Mason got some action…" Lissa replied.

"Correction, Mason got some syphilis…" Mason said in third person, as he came back out from the bathroom.

"Oh let's forget about this, the hospital is across the street, I can sure as hell walk across the street," Ambrose yelled, pulling his hands away from Rose and Lissa's grip on his arms.

* * *

They walked together across the street and into the hospital getting Ambrose situated into a bed and began running some tests.

"Okay, Lissa, details," Rose said to Lissa who walked from the hallway into the ER, "You're pregnant? What are you going to do?"

"I don't know…" Lissa cried, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"What are you guys doing back here?" Mia asked, joining them at the nurse's station, she looked at Rose "Aren't you supposed to be on a date with McDreamy?"

"More like McMarried" Mason muttered.

"McWhat?!" Mia exclaimed.

"I came to check on Ambrose…" Rose replied depressingly.

"Is he going to need an operation?" Lissa asked rhetorically.

"Operation yes," Dimitri said butting into the conversation. Rose flinched at the presence of his voice, but never looked up to meet his eyes. She rolled her eyes, "Sub-arachnoid hemorrhaging, an aneurysm the size of a golf ball…"

"How do you clip something like that?" Mason asked curiously.

"Magic fingers," Lissa replied.

"Or a stand-still surgery" Dimitri suggested, offering a small smile to the group of interns, clearly focused on the Rose in the middle.

"You're doing a stand-still operation?!" Lissa exclaimed.

"I want to try, but first I'm going to need patient history, overnight labs and cerebral angio" He looked over at Rose, and held out Ambrose's chart to her.

"I'm drunk." She spat and Mason takes the chart from Dimitri's hands.

"Rose…" Dimitri said, before she walked away. He sighed and chased after her. Mia stepped back and stood in his way, whispering bastard. Lissa follows suit and widely leans against the desk so he would have limited space to get through. After Dimitri made his way past both women, Mason stepped forward, pretending to read the chart and blocking his pathway, but Dimitri pushed him slightly and kept walking.

Rose raced out of the hospital, trying to get further and further away from Dimitri as possible.

"Rose!" He yelled, running after her.

"Go. Away!" she screamed back.

"Wait! We should discuss this!" he said, once he caught up.

"Here's the thing," she shouted, stopping to turn around "No! Quit following me!"

She turned back around and kept walking, starting to run.

"At least let me explain!" he begged.

"Explain? You know when you should have explained? The night we met in the bar, before any of this!" She cried, tears formed in her eyes as she continued to argue with him, she turned again to walk away, "Yeah that should have been a good time to discuss this."

"Look, I know how you feel…" he started.

"DO YOU?" she shouted, "Somehow I doubt that, because if you did you would shut up and you would turn around and go back inside because you would realise that I am this close to getting in my car and RUNNING YOU DOWN IN THE PARKING LOT!"

She raced out into the rain, tears freefalling down her face, only to be washed away by the rain. A strong figure walked by her side holding an umbrella.

"Give me your keys" the man's said, she recognised his voice, Mason.

"I'm fine!" she yelled.

"Rose, Give me your keys, Let's go home…" he soothed.

* * *

Dimitri stood back under the shelter of the hospital roof, watching his girlfriend _or ex-girlfriend _walk further and further away from him. He stomped back into the hospital, making his way towards the Chief's room. He slammed open his door, and angrily glared at the situation unfolding before his eyes. His wife sat on the Chief's bedside, laughing at god knows what. Realization hit full on, and he turned to look away from his wife, not even bearing to look at her without feeling disgusted. The room immediately went silent, and his wife turned to look at her husband. Dimitri cleared his throat and walked in and he leaned against the dresser at the end of the room.

"Well I'll be back tomorrow morning to report for duty, and you get some rest" she said to the Chief, kissing him on the forehead, when Dimitri noticed her exit and distance away from the room, he turned back to the Chief.

"What is she doing here?" He asked angrily.

"You and I both know she is the best in her field, bring Tasha out was a business decision, nothing personal"

"Ohhh!" Dimitri breathed out, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm, "What a relief it is not personal, it is personal to me!"

"The workings of the surgical unit, is my business!" the Chief said, raising his voice.

"DON'T INCLUDE MY WIFE!" Dimitri yelled.

Dimitri angrily stormed out of the VIP room and slammed the door on his way out.

* * *

Rose laid in bed, the right side empty from where he usually slept, every night his arm wrapped around her waist, his warmth keeping her from the cold chills of the morning. His side was empty. She missed his presence despite the fact that he was a lying, manipulating jackass.

She smashed her alarm against the wall, as it rang, making her remember that she had to go to work and work meant having to see him. She unwillingly pulled herself out of her bed, and stomped around the house to get ready for the worst day of her life.

She trudged her way into work, taking the stairs to avoid any chance of bumping into him that day. She made it to the intern locker room without meeting him, and she sighed against her locker, disappointed and glad at the same time.

"Someone is popular today" Alto said to her, as he handed out the assignments.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"You've been requested, just for you" he replied.

* * *

Dimitri and Christian walked side by side down the hallways, on the verge of a heated argument. Dimitri was completely jealous of the Chief's choice in the interim replacement of his position.

"I'll only be your Chief for a few days…" Christian assured.

"I know of the Chief's recovery time, because I'm the one who operated on him," Dimitri huffed.

"Yes, while you operated on his brain, he asked me to be Chief and recruited your wife too," Christian laughed.

"Clearly he has brain damage," Dimitri joked.

"Or is it your ex-wife? I'm a little fuzzy on that" Christian asked confused.

"Oh… We're separated," Dimitri sighed, the sound of high heeled shoes clacking on the ground alerted him to the incoming nightmare that was soon to follow.

"Sorry to interrupt but I was just asking if Dr. Ozera had managed to secure the…" Tasha asked.

Rose walked in on their conversation and finished Tasha's sentence for her "intern you requested, yes he did"

Dimitri stared at Rose with wide eyes and looked back at his wife who smiled at Rose's presence. Dimitri couldn't believe it his eyes, when the two women looked at each other. He turned to run from the possibility of the impending moment of his wife and ex-girlfriend and he leaves.

* * *

"See just a small scar," Tasha said, performing an ultrasound on their patient.

"And my babies?" the patient asked.

"Your babies are doing very well… And Dr. Hathaway will be back to check on you later…"

"Actually I'd prefer it if Dr. Hathaway were taken off the case" the patient interrupted

"Why is there a problem?"

"Just reminds me of someone I don't like very much, particularly who my husband likes a lot especially in lingerie"

"No… No… I don't understand" Tasha said, crossing her arms.

"Well she's sleeping with your husband right?" the patient asked, glaring at Rose standing in the corner. Rose looked at the patient in shock wondering how she knew about it. Before she could question it. Tasha took a deep breath,

"Ms. Philips, I lack Dr. Hathaway's class and patience, so let me set the record safe, my husband didn't cheat on me, I cheated on him so the wronged woman here, is Dr. Hathaway"

Rose looked up at Tasha in surprise, _She cheated on him?_

"So I think you owe her one hell of an apology" Tasha stressed, walking out of the room.

* * *

After work, Rose and Lissa sat in the bar staring at the neon sign glowing on the wall

"Why did you tell me? If you were so content on keeping it a secret?" Rose asked after Lissa refused to talk about her pregnancy and won't even tell her who the father was. There was a moment of silence, before Lissa spoke up.

"I went to the doctors, had a check-up that's why I told you, they gave me options… and I needed to submit an emergency contact, you know just in case something goes wrong… I put your name down… you're my person…"

"I am?" Rose asked.

"Yeah…" Lissa smiled half-heartedly. Rose leaned over and gave Lissa a hug, patting her back as tears flooded Lissa's eyes.

"Since you're my person, then you are mine…" Rose began, still holding onto her person, "Apparently Tasha cheated on Dimitri…"

"Oh… Well then what are you going to do?"

"I need to talk to Dimitri… I need to know the full story…" Rose said, pulling away.

"Go… Get your mind at ease… I can get home myself…" Lissa assured.

"Okay… I'll talk to you tomorrow" Rose replied, picking up her jacket. She kissed her friend's cheek and got in her car.

She drove up to the trailer where Dimitri had brought her to a few weeks ago, knowing he'd be spending his nights there after she had ended things with him. She stepped out of the car, and saw Dimitri standing on the top of the deck surprised at his visitor. She told him about his wife's admission to the patient and let him explain.

"One night, I parked my car, unlocked my front door, and go inside my house and something is different… Nothing's different everything is the same but yet still… something is different and I stand there for a while and then I know," He retold, she walked up to the steps and sat down next to him, "I walk towards my bedroom, and step on a man's jacket, only it is not my jacket and so I prepare myself for what I'm going to see, but not only am I going to see that my wife had been cheating on me, but had been cheating on me with Adrian, who happened to be my best friend."

He paused quietly, taking a sip from the bottle of beer in his hands, and continued "and I left… came out here"

"And you met me…" Rose said.

"And I met you…" He repeated, agreeing to her words. She looked at him longingly, but unwillingly stood up and walked back towards her car.

"What was I to you?" she asked, "The girl you screwed for getting screwed?"

"You are like coming up for fresh air, like I was drowning and you saved me," He told her, smiling.

"If I meant so much to you... Why didn't you tell me about her?" she questioned, tears forming in her eyes. He went quiet, looking down at his feet, as if he was hiding in shame. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Do you think I even want to think about it? I can't even think straight when I have the image of my best friend thrusting himself inside my wife? Yeah I literally walked in right when he did it. She shouted his name for heaven's sake which should have been mine. When I met you, I never thought I would fall so hard... I cared too much about you to let you get hurt by my past. She doesn't exist to me, when she showed up at the hospital I thought it was some kind of sick cosmic joke. I wanted to protect you..." his voice raised slightly.

"I didn't need your protection Dimitri, I needed the truth..." Rose countered.

"I'm sorry Rose" he said sincerely.

She looked over at the lake the sparkled under the moonlight. She looked back at Dimitri, who looked at her yearningly, as if he was hoping she'd forgive him for not telling her his deepest and darkest secret. She stood there for over a minute, letting his words dance around in her mind, although she wasn't the one doing wrong she couldn't help but feel at fault with the situation. She finally settled on the single thought _leaving _so she turned around, got back into her car and left him of the porch of his trailer.

* * *

**A/N – Awww Poor Dimitri… **


	8. Kiss My Ass

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N - ****So im just going to clear up last chapter... **Abe is not Rose's father... You'll see why within the next few chapters, Adrian will maybe come in later... Dimitri and Tasha are SEPARATED. not divorced. I don't think i have placed a setting for this story, the place they work should be unknown.  


* * *

**Chapter 8**

The morning sun glistened on the lake of the park as Rose and Lissa jogged past it. Rose had dragged Lissa out of bed and took her for an early morning run.

"I hate you!" Lissa complained, "I hate you and your jogging…"

"Endorphins are good, endorphins are mood raisers, they're supposed to make us feel better!" Rose replied, slowing down as Lissa stopped to take a breath.

"Oh God, I hate you… Slutty Mistress…" She teased.

"Pregnant whore" Rose replied, jogging around her tired friend.

"Oh yeah, sleeping with our bosses was a great idea"

"You know what's ruined for me? Ferryboats… I used to love ferryboats, but now… I can't even look at one without thinking about him, so hating him means I'm hating ferryboats."

Lissa fell to the floor, rolling in the grass as she tried to relax. Rose followed suit and dropped to her knees and looked up at the light fluffy clouds that hovered above.

"I seriously don't want to go into work today, I mean he poured his heart into my hands, I hate him, I hate him and his stupid boy penis" Rose whined.

"Okay, lets jog…" Lissa replied, but not getting off the floor.

* * *

Rose sped towards the entrance of the hospital, not even wanting to think about Dimitri's explanation the previous night. She closed into the hospital lobby, she saw him leaning against the columns that held the up the shelter outside the hospital.

"Stop!" She said, rolling her eyes as she walked past.

"What?" Dimitri replied, looking back at Rose's friends, before looking back at her.

"You're stalking me!" She shouted, "Stop It!"

"Did we not communicate last night?" He said with disbelief.

"Yes."

"Did you hear what I was saying?"

"Your wife screwed your best friend"

"And from that point on she no longer existed to me!"

"You have marital amnesia" she declared.

"No! Come on, I bared by soul to you last night" he told her, "How can it not be enough?"

She stopped and confronted him "When you waited 2 months to tell me and I had to find out by her turning up here, all leggy and fabulous and she told me herself? You pulled plug! I'm a sink with an open drain! Anything YOU say runs right out! There is no enough!"

She left him standing alone at the entrance, Mia and Mason followed soon after.

* * *

In the intern locker room, Mason, Rose and Lissa watched Mia and Eddie laughing with each other over some mysterious topic

"Are they friends?" Rose asked curiously, she really hated Eddie, his was an egotistical jackass that asks to be pummeled.

"You guys are wrong about him, once you get to know him, he is actually pretty sweet" Mia said, as they walked to pit for a consult that was coming in.

The interns shook their head in disbelief at Mia's comment on Eddie.

* * *

Dimitri stepped into the elevator, and pressed his floor number. As the doors closed, a hand stuck through the small gap and the doors reopened. The chief stood in his casual clothing, his IV by his side, a strange hat covering his incision.

"Nice hat" Dimitri commented, holding back a laugh.

"Shut up." The chief responded, only making Dimitri laugh more.

"I hate you for letting Satan come to Seattle" Dimitri added, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Satan?" The chief asked as the elevator doors opened, and in came Tasha.

"I like your hat Chief" Tasha complimented

"And Satan speaks," Dimitri muttered under his breath.

"Actually I like to be called the ruler of all that is evil…" Tasha said, overhearing his comment, causing the Chief to laugh, "But I will answer to Satan"

* * *

Rose and the other interns made it down to the pit just in time for the patient to come through the doors screaming. Rose looked at the patient in horror, _Mom?_

"WHERE IS THE CHIEF? YOU ARE ALL AMATEURS!" Her mother screamed, pulling against her restraints.

"Patient complaining of abdominal cramps, suffers from Alzheimer's…" Lissa began, reading the chart.

"Patients name?" Alto asked, but Lissa hesitated to reply, looking at Rose who stood at the end of the hallway, watching on as the events unfolded.

"Dragomir! Patient's NAME?" Alto yelled.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Her mother yelled at Rose, "Haven't I told you never to bother me while I'm at work?"

Rose ran and hid behind the wall, but she still watched her mother scream from around the corner. Mason and Alto looked at Rose who concealed herself behind the wall, cowering in fear.

"Janine Hathaway." Lissa replied.

"Rose's mother?" Mason asked in shock, looking back at his friend who vanished.

Rose ran hard and fast back to the intern locker room, and hid behind the lockers, attempting to avoid her friends confronting her with the situation with her mother. _Why is my mother here, she isn't supposed to be here…_

The stress of her life was building intensely, now not only did her ex-boyfriend talk to her this morning; she is confronted by her anger filled mother.

"Everybody GO!" Alto commanded, standing in front of the intern locker room door, "Mia, the Belikov's want an intern up in the NICU, go!"

"Wait, both of them together? And me… by myself… with the two married people who hate each other?" Mia complained.

"Go!" Alto demanded, brushing her away, "All of you go! And make yourselves busy."

* * *

Lissa strolled into the OR late, Ozera standing over the patient.

"You're late…" He stated, looking over at the disturbance she had caused.

"I'm sorry…" Lissa replied, looking down, her vision clouded as she looked up at Ozera performing the surgery, she shook it off. Her shoulder began to ache, and her neck was getting tired. Ozera began to question the residents in the OR who were observing the procedure.

"Dragomir…" He said, but the dizziness began to sink in, her name repeated in her head multiple time before she collapsed on the floor.

"Lissa!" Ozera yelled desperately, stopping his procedure, "Somebody help her! Get a gurney in here!"

Mia and Stan who were up in the gallery raced down to the OR,

"I want a full report! Alto!" Christian yelled, as Mia and Alto put her on a gurney and out of the OR.

"Yes Dr. Ozera" Alto replied quickly, "Damn her pulse is racing, I want a monitor, I need her BP, and I want her on a liter of LR"

"Mia…" Lissa said groggily though her oxygen mask, "Mia…"

"What is it Lissa?" Mia asked worriedly.

"Mia… I'm pregnant… Mia…" she gasped before she passed out again.

"Okay, skip the tests, let's take her to pre-op!" Alto demanded, as Mia stood in the hallway in shock, Rinaldi go look for Tasha Belikova, and be discreet.

Mia looked all over the hospital weaving in and out of hallways until she noticed Dr. Belikova walking along the hallway with the Chief.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but Dr. Belikova I need you to come with me, it's an emergency, it's Lissa… one of our interns, she's collapsed," Mia told her, feeling bad for telling Dr. Belikova in front of the Chief.

"Why do you need me?" Tasha asked, confused by the situation. Mia didn't reply, and Tasha came to realization.

Tasha followed Mia to pre-op where Lissa was scrawled out on the bed, she quickly got the ultrasound machine ready.

"She has an ectopic pregnancy, she's bleeding out" Tasha said quickly, reading the ultrasound images, "Let's get her into surgery"

* * *

She was called in the middle of Dimitri's surgery to have permission in taking a biopsy of a mass found on her mother's liver. She couldn't help but feel elated that her mother could be sick even possibly dying. She didn't understand why she felt this way except for the fact that her mother never loved her, nor did she have a normal childhood because of it. She was in her place of 'dark and twisty' and she desperately wanted to find Lissa.

But when she checked she was lying on the operating table, her name wasn't under the surgeon column it was under the patient column. Her breath hitched as she noticed the procedure being performed on her best friend. Immediately she jumped straight to the OR where she was in, Mia must have seen her walk in because she was confronted her a few seconds later. Mia convinced her to stay way and that Lissa wouldn't want anyone to see her this way. Rose wondered heavily if what happened was because of the run that occurred that morning.

She reluctantly gave in and waited at the desk for her mother's results.

"What did the results say?" Mia asked, walking up to Rose and Mason.

"Haven't got it…" Rose replied, "How's Lissa?"

"She's good, she made it through surgery…" Mia assured, her words relaxed parts of Rose's nerves, but she heart was still racing as she awaited her mother's results.

At that moment, the Lab guy walked up to her and handed her the biopsy results. _Benign_. SHee gave out a sigh of relief mixed with a sense of disappointment. She ran out of the hospital and sat down on the seats in the freezing cold, not long after sat down to take a single breath, she heard footsteps approach her from behind. The tears welled up in her eyes as she heard his voice.

"Rose?" Dimitri asked concerned, "Rose?"

"Don't… just leave… please just don't say anything" she sobbed.

"Okay…" he replied, putting down his bag on the seat behind her. She got up and walked around the seat, standing directly in front of him. The weight of the events that occurred that day dragged her further down into the depths of misery. She missed his touch, his smiles and not to mention the mind blowing sex.

"I'm just exhausted… My mother is exhausting, what happened with Lissa and you… hating you is the most exhausting" She confessed, tears still flowing down her cheeks, she pushed herself onto her toes to pull him in for a kiss. She felt the intense sparks from his kiss across her body. She pulled back and looked into the brown depths of his eyes "and I don't want to do it anymore..."

She stepped back and headed into the hospital.

* * *

The next morning on rounds with Alto she debated over whether she should go into her mother's room. She was confident that her mother would kick her out immediately if she went in. She stepped away from her fellow interns to make her back to the main nurses' station.

She could feel his presence once she turned the corner, she didn't look over to his figure waiting at the elevator. She even tried not to breathe as she walked past him, but she got caught anyway.

"Skipping rounds?" Dimitri asked, grabbing a hold of her arm.

"Avoiding my mother," she stated. He turned to stand in front of her preventing her from running.

"Stop it! You're married!" she cried at him, yanking her arm out of his grasp, "Your life is complicated!"

"Yes…" He agreed, but the smile formed on his face_._

"I don't need complicated! I have complicated all on my own"

"Yes…" he repeated.

"Stop saying yes." She told him.

"I'm trying not to make any sudden movements…" he told her, his eyes wide open, as if he was hiding from something. He cocked his head to the side, as she wasn't smiling at his attempt to relieve the tension.

"You think this is funny?" she argued.

"Tasha is leaving, she doesn't have any more patients here so there is no reason for her to be here!" he smirked.

"No reason?" she asked herself, but he answers anyway affirming her of Tasha's departure. Dimitri brushed Rose's face gently with his thumb.

"We'll isn't this cozy?" Tasha fake smiled "Can I join in? Or you not into threesomes?"

Dimitri rolled his eyes at Tasha's presence.

"I have to go," Rose said quickly, trying to put as much distance away from them as possible.

"Rose…" he said after her, he turned back to his wife, "You really are Satan… you know that? Why aren't you on a flight back to where ever you came from?"

"Oh stop being so petty!" She shot back.

"Stop being an adulterous bitch"

"You know you are going to have to forgive me eventually right? I mean there was a time you thought of me as a best friend"

"There was a time where I thought you were the love of my life… things change,"

Tasha sighed and turned around to press the elevator button. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folder and handed it to him.

"Divorce papers." He said, looking at the papers in his hand, they felt heavy as if it was pulling him towards the surface of reality. If he signed these it's over, he was going to get rid of someone in his life _Its real, it's all real. This is really happening… _

"Your lawyer said they were okay," Tasha replied, she glanced up and noticed Rose watching them talk, "I haven't signed them yet, but the ball is in your court, if you sign, I'll sign… I'll sign, be on the first plane out of here, and leave you to your fling,"

"Rose isn't a fling!" He defended, "I'll sign them immediately, I want you gone"

Tasha stomped into the elevator, but as the doors closed Dimitri leaned against the wall and sighed. He couldn't bear sign it, she had been there for the last 11 years, every event they went through together, the ups and the downs, she was there.

Rose made her way back down the stairs and looked at him in the eye. He handed over the papers that were in his hand into hers. She looked deeply at the pages in her hand realising what they were.

"I'm going to sign them… and then you and me, we can start over…" Dimitri said to her with what seemed to be his utmost confidence, but she couldn't see the internal battle he was facing.

* * *

Dimitri sat alone in the conference room after his surgery of removing a bullet from a man's brain who had walked to the hospital himself. The man had been shot by his wife, after she had found out that he had cheated on him. But he had defended her out of love, saying that he shot himself.

The case had roused up memories of when they married and how happy he was, his thoughts eventually made its way to where it all went wrong.

_Dimitri, I think I'm pregnant…_

He was so ecstatic when she told him that she was going to have his baby, but looking at her face when she told him made him realise that Tasha didn't want it.

_Dimitri, I don't want a baby, if I'm pregnant... I'm getting an abortion_

When there was an appointment with the OBGYN and there was no baby, he could see Tasha sigh as sense of relief. After that pregnancy scare, he became more and more distant and without realising it she was pulling away too.

Could they fix it? Can they go back to the way they were before? Could they still be Dimitri and Natasha, the badass world-class surgical couple?

* * *

Lissa laid in bed her mother, Rhea, sitting on the lounge in her room. She hadn't spoken to anyone the hole day, drowning in the loss of her child. Despite her lack of attention to her pregnancy, she couldn't help but fall into the depths of grief. Tears formed in her eyes, and gently flowed down her cheeks.

"Oh baby…" Her mother said, wrapping an arm around her daughter, but Lissa nudged her off, turning on her side to face the other side of the room. Rhea struggled to keep her daughter calm, every attempt being brushed off.

Mason walked past Lissa room, hearing her sobs "Lissa… Are you okay?"

"Make it stop" was all she said.

"What?"

"Make it stop please…" she begged him, grabbing onto his arm tightly. He lifted a hand to touch her shoulder, to offer comfort, but was pushed away. A moment later Mia overheard Lissa's crying and entered the room.

"Get someone to page Rose…" Mason whispered to Mia, she quickly left the room.

Minutes later, Lissa was still crying, Rose heard the sobs from the hallway and rushed into the room.

"What did you guys do?" she asked, she stepped towards Lissa about to give her a hug.

"NO!" Mason and Mia yelled simultaneously.

"She doesn't want to be comforted, she keeps pushing us away," Rhea explained.

"Someone please… make it stop…" Lissa begged again.

"Put her on a light sedation," Rose ordered to the nurse who walked past.

After a few minutes, Lissa stopped crying but was still refusing to be touched. Her friends all had been paged to some emergency that was coming into the pit, which left her feeling alone, despite her mother's presence.

Christian made his way to Lissa's room after hearing a nurse talk to another nurse about Lissa's breakdown. He stood in the doorway, looking at Lissa's limp form. He walked closer to her bed, reaching over to brush her head.

"I wouldn't do that…" Rhea began, "She doesn't want to be touched"

But that didn't stop him, he brushed a loose strand of her beautiful platinum blonde hair out of her face. She flinched but didn't push him away, in fact she relaxed at his touch.

Christian put down his stuff on the chair by her bedside and climbed into her bed. He wrapped his strong arms around her body, as tears flowed down her face.

"Shh…" he hushed, comforting her. He pressed a gentle kiss onto her forehead.

* * *

When they finally made it off work, they walked together across the street and towards the Ambrose's bar. Dimitri opened the door gesturing Rose to go in.

"I'm glad we're doing this…" Rose said, to him as she brushed past him and into the bar. They had agreed to talk about their problems since he signed the divorce papers.

"Me too," he smiled.

As he put his bag down, and the chair's instability caused it to fall to the floor. The divorce papers flew out his bag straight into Rose's direction. She bent down to pick them up and then she stopped. _Where is his signature?_ She thought, spotting the empty signature line above his name. She looked back up at him, he sighed and turned away from her gaze.

* * *

**A/N - Come on... you don't expect Dimitri to be accepting of the idea of divorce... He's a loving, caring guy who loves his family... He has a right to feel hesitant... ****There is a reason that i made Dimitri like this, and you will find out in the next chapter **and I WILL introduce Rose's real father within the next few chapters...  



	9. Fight like Hell

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N - 100 reviews! Thank you all so much! here's the next chap~  
**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

The sky turned gunmetal grey within minutes, and threatened to dump its contents on the couple arguing in the driveway. Dimitri had followed Rose in his car after she stormed out of the bar, subsequently picking up the unsigned divorce papers.

"I don't want to have this conversation with you!" Rose yelled at him, as she grabbed the keys out of her bag.

"Rose…" He began.

"No! You didn't sign the divorce papers! Fine! I get it! End of discussion!" She shouted.

"Rose…" He started again a little louder. She finally opened her door and stepped in but he pushed his way into her house.

"WHAT?" she screamed, as he blocked her from closing the door.

"Oh… usually I say Rose and you yell at me…" He muttered, "I haven't thought beyond that…"

She grasped her bag tighter as she swung it at his arm, effectively pushing him out the door.

"SERIOUSLY?" She shouted at him. She slammed the door in his face and ran up the stairs.

She trumped into Mason's room, Mia already lying beside him. He grumbled as she lay down on the other side of the bed.

"He's a brain surgeon! How can he be so brainless?" Rose complained. Mia added to the complaining, by whining about Eddie who had asked her on a date and yet practically stood her up by being so distant. Mason hushed them and patted their shoulders, seemingly offering some sort of sympathy towards them. He sat up quickly as the light from the lightening flashed though the closed window blinds, followed by the power being cut. He groaned in realisation that he wasn't getting any sleep at all.

* * *

Rose tailed her resident from room to room, until they reached Dimitri's patient who was scheduled for surgery the next day. The patient was watching TV, the interns became enraptured by the pleasurable moaning coming from the television.

Mason's attention was captured to the screen, "Is that?" Mason asked curiously, not looking away, as the naked women on screen giggled.

"Porn," the wife finished.

"Porn…" Alto said monotonously until he realised, "As in PORN?!"

"Alright! What are we watching?" Eddie exclaimed, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Castile go wait in the hall!" Alto commanded, "Mr. and Mrs. Lamont, I mean no disrespect, but this is a hospital and there can be no porn…"

"It's for my pain… my doc says it releases endorphins in the brain, it helps keep my pain at a manageable level"

"Really?" Mason asked mesmerized by the porn.

"Ashford! HALL!"

"What is this?" Mia laughed.

"Nasty, Naughty Nurses…" the wife replied, looking at the TV "um… 4"

The women on the television captured the interns' attention, turning their head to watch the nurses bend in ways that no woman should be able to go.

"That does not look comfortable…" Lissa said her head still tilted.

"Yeah…" Mia agreed.

"Trust me, it's not…" Rose replied. Mia and Lissa looked at Rose shocked at her advice, as if she had done it before.

"You three, in the hall!" Alto shouted, snapping his fingers to emphasize his demands.

Alto followed the girls out of the hall and handed out the assignments, and she left Rose till the end.

"Alright, Your mother is being discharged today… you made arrangements?" Alto asked.

"The nursing home is picking her up at 8" Rose nodded.

"Okay you are with Belikov…" Alto replied, "Dimitri. Dimitri Belikov."

"I…" she began, her mouth gaped open.

"Hey! Life is short, Times are hard, the road is long…" he said for effect "he requested you so take it up with him."

* * *

Rose stood silently in the middle of the lobby, just staring into empty space. She couldn't be bothered to look for him. But he found her anyway.

"Rose" he shouted from across the hall.

"Your wife is looking for you…" she told him, after hearing Tasha ask around the hospital.

"Oh…" was all he said.

"Look! I'm not going to be that woman, the one who breaks up a marriage or begs you to want me, you can sign the papers or you cannot, the choice is yours, either way when it comes to this relationship? I'm out. So where is the patient I'm supposed to be helping out with today?"

He pointed behind himself and she left before he could say another word.

"I had a twinge in my back for a while now, but last night my legs went numb, and this morning the pain, it was just too much," the patient informed, as Dimitri performed the exam.

Before he could began explaining the results of the MRI, two people walk into the room, one shouting the patient's name. Dimitri and Rose left the room after their patient who needed spinal surgery within the next 24 hours, denied the surgery after informing them that she was Mung and that her father was the elder. After moments of confusion, they reached the stairwell.

"Find out what Mung means… Contact social services, get them down here," He told Rose, as they walked up the stairs.

"Should I continue processing her discharge?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, it's insane but we have to, it reminds me of this patient in New York…"

"Look do you need me for anything else? Work related?" Rose interjected. He huffed and stared at her in disbelief.

"Look I was married for 11 years, Tasha is my family, that is 11 birthdays, and 11 Christmases and in one day I'm supposed to sign a piece of paper and end my family?AI person doesn't do that… not without a little hesitation" He told her, before raising his voice slightly "I'm entitled to a little uncertainty here! Just a moment to understand the magnitude of what I'm about to do here! And what it means to cut someone out of my life! I'm entitled to one moment of painful doubt and a little understanding from you would be nice."

He stepped past her and raced up the stairs. He left her standing alone the hallway to process his words.

* * *

The lights flickered, as the storm clouds rolled over and the thunder rumbled. Lissa heard the yelling from her patient, screams of agony, resonated from the room.

"Oh my gosh, you really are in pain… the porn actually worked" Lissa exclaimed in surprise at her patients elevated blood pressure and heart rate. She felt terrible for the patient who's television had been cut of its power supply.

"I… um… damn you cant have an epidural cause of your surgery… dammit" she said to herself looking at the chart. She walked over to the other side of the bed and sat of the neighboring gurney, clueless at what to do next.

"If you tell anyone of this ever…" she told him, as she suggested to tell him a porny story, he nodded quickly as she began, "There were these women… nurses… three nurses and they were naughty… really really naughty… they were three naughty nurses… saucy even… they were saucy and bad and naughty, three saucy, bad, naughty nurses. They were taking a shower… together… soaping each other up…"

Her patient closed his eyes and relaxed into the bed, his labored breathing slowing into a slow rhythm.

* * *

Dimitri roamed the hallways after a disturbing conversation about the porno patient under his care. He saw Rose in his peripheral and she joined his pace through the darkened hallways and began explaining the details of the Mung people, the traditions and requirements for patient to be able to go to surgery.

Dimitri finally convinced his patient's father to fly in a Shaman to perform a 'soul-retrieving' ritual. The darkness of the power outage gave the couple an added effect of the ritual..

An hour passed and the calming sensation from the ritual rippled through Rose's veins. She leaned back gently and accidentally nudged Dimitri's shoulder, sending shivers down her spine from his touch. She could feel the smile forming on his face without even turning around.

Dimitri wanted to bury his face into her hair and breathe in her scent, the gentle flower smell overwhelming his sense whenever he got close. He stared at the ritual and the sensation left him falling harder for the woman standing in front of him. He felt responsible to fix his marriage with Tasha but couldn't bear to hurt Rose more than he already had. His internal battle raged on throughout the ritual and even through the surgery.

* * *

Dimitri was right, like always he was right, he WAS entitled to a little uncertainty, hesitation and doubt. She glanced at Dimitri every few seconds during the surgery, trying to read his expression. Just watching him remove the tumor from the girl's spine, she could feel her longing for him. She missed him, and she missed him bad. She wasn't out of this relationship, she was in DEFINITELY IN. If there was a battle between herself and his wife, she would fight like hell to keep him.

Rose waited till every person left the scrub room, before she approached Dimitri standing alone. He looked at her, curiously, as she walked up to him.

"I lied," she confessed, he bent down and sat on the ledge of the sink, looking into her eyes that were glowing in the darkened room, "I'm not out of this relationship, I'm in, I'm SO in, it's humiliating, because here I am begging…"

"Rose…" Dimitri said standing up, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Shut up. You say Rose and I yell remember?"

"Yeah…" He mumbled sitting back down on the sink.

"Okay, Here it is," she muttered, holding back her tears, "Your choice is simple, her or me, and I'm sure she's really great… but Dimitri… I love you… in a really really big pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, in an unfortunate way that makes me hate you and love you. So pick me! Choose me… love me…"

He was silent, had she said something she wasn't supposed to say? Had she driven him away?

He pushed himself up and moved her to her lips. She turned her head swiftly, and avoided his kiss.

"I'll be at Ambrose's tonight, if you do decide to sign the papers, meet me there…" She said, tears fully flowing down her cheeks. She turned around and left the room.

She brushed her tears off her face and made her way to the intern locker room, changing to meet the nursing home people here to pick up her mother. Surprisingly when she got to her mother's room, the Chief stood with her mother, passing the bag over. _Why is the chief here?_

"I am going to come see you tomorrow…" She said to her mother, leaning over. Her mother grabbed her hand.

"He doesn't love her, he can't but he'll stay with her anyway, she's his wife…" Her mother told her. The Alzheimer's had sent her mother back in time and she was living her years of residency. Her mother had always made the mistake of thinking that her daughter was one of her co-workers. _That means… the Chief and my mother did their residency here?_

"Mom?" she asked, and a wave of realization washed across her mother's face, and Janine smiled, "Mommy…"

"Rosemarie…" Janine smiled, brushing her daughter's face, "You grew up…"

"I did," Rose replied with a smile.

"Hmm… it's a shame," her mother told her "It's awful being a grown up, but the carousel never stops turning, you can never get off"

It was the first time in month's that her mother had even recognized her.

She couldn't help but agree with her mother's words of strange wisdom, it was awful being a grown up. The expectations… the responsibilities… Her thoughts drifted to Dimitri and her confession in the scrub room, _would he pick her? Or me?_

* * *

Ambrose poured a shot of tequila into a cup and set it down in front of Rose. She had come into the bar day after day, every time she had finished her shift she would sit in the bar and throw back shot after shot. Ambrose had already remembered her favorite drink, just walking into the bar and she would have a shot of tequila once she sat down. She told him about her confession, and her ultimatum.

"Do you think he'll show?" Rose asked him.

"He'll show." Ambrose said with the utmost confidence.

The ring of the door opening captured her attention, she quickly turned her head to see who had just walked into the bar. Mason. She sighed in disappointment as she realized it wasn't who she was hoping for. Mason walked into the bar all jolly and happy. From what she had heard he had to crack open a man's chest in an elevator as it was stuck between floors due to the power outage.

After 5 more door openings, she wanted to give up, her friends were all laughing about their day, while she sat there waiting for Dimitri to walk through the doors.

"He's not going coming…" Rose sighed, "You don't think he's coming…"

"He might come…" Mia replied.

"Yeah! You never know, he might come…" Lissa assured.

"He's definitely coming!" Mason argued, only to have his foot stepped on, "What? You want her doing tequila shots all night? I'll be the one cleaning up the vomit, besides I touched a heart today…"

The bell rang again, and a couple walked into a bar, all their heads turned to the sound, looking to see if it was Dimitri walking in. Realizing it wasn't, they turned back around, with every ring of the bell their friend fell deeper into the hole she was digging for herself.

"Pour me another one… " Rose told Ambrose.

"I'm telling you… any second…" Ambrose reassured, pouring her another shot.

* * *

Dimitri sat alone in his casual clothes at the waiting room of the hospital. He desperately wanted to wake up and go to the bar to follow his heart, but his mind kept dragging him back to reality and by signing the papers would mean an end to one third of his life.

_That night, it was raining, cold and it was going to snow any day. It wasn't uncommon there in Baia, but Dimitri still loved the snow as much as when he first saw it. He opened the door to his house, just another day of work had ended. He wanted to go upstairs, get changed and doze off into the depths of sleep. Although, something was different, he looked around to see if anything had been stolen or touched, No, nothing had changed. His mother's vase sat on the dining table. The flat screen still standing. No robbery, something is still different. _

_He brushed away the feeling and climbed the staircase, when her reached the hallway to their bedroom he stepped on a leather jacket. He'd seen that jacket before but it certainly wasn't his. After his motorcycling days were over he never wore a leather jacket again, but why is there a jacket here?  
_

_He opened the door to his bedroom. He jumped as he saw a man in his bed, Tasha screamed his name and as she realised another presence she sat up quickly and stared into the eyes of Dimitri. He just stood there, his mind went empty and couldn't think, he couldn't breathe... he turned around and picked up the leather jacket on the floor. It was Adrian's he was sure of it, Dimitri had given it as a gift on Adrian's birthday. He looked back around to meet the eyes of the man thrusting himself into his wife. His jade green eyes stared back. Dimitri threw the jacket at his former best friend and walked away. _

_He hid himself in the spare bedroom, his face in his hands. He heard the front door close. He took the chance to go back into his room. He grabbed his wife's clothes out of the closet and went down the stairs.  
_

_"Dimitri! Dimitri listen to me!" Tasha begged from the top of the stairs. He could hear her footsteps behind him as he raced down the stairs, "Dimitri you can't do this, Dimitri, we have to talk about this!"  
_

_"No we don't!" he yelled back.  
_

_"Give me a chance to explain! Wait what are you doing with my clothes! IT WAS ONE TIME! I know what people say, I know what always get said! I don't even know how it happened or what I was thinking! I was just... he was just here!"  
_

_"You screwed by best friend and you say he was just HERE?" he shouted at her. He opened the front door and threw her clothes out into the rain, "Get out!"  
_

_"No!" she cried.  
_

_"GET OUT!" he repeated.  
_

_"No!" she yelled again, sitting on the stairs "I'm standing my ground"  
_

_"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!" He screamed.  
_

_"NO! IM HOLDING MY GROUND!" she shouted, as he came over to her and picked her up "WE DON'T QUIT!"  
_

_"GET OUT!" He yelled one more time. He pulled her off the stair case and shoved her out the open front door.  
_

_"What are you doing? Dimitri!" she yelled as he slammed the door closed, "No!"  
_

_He could hear her sobbing from the inside of her house additional to the rain that continued to fall. She continued to beg as he leaned against the front door and slid down it. He dropped his head into his hands, he felt bad for throwing her into the stormy rain. He opened the door and she came rushing in.  
_

_"Dimitri! I'm sorry! Please let me explain!" she sobbed, pulling Dimitri into a hug. He stood there frozen, he felt disgusted at her touching him when she was just touching another man just a few moments ago. He pulled her back forcefully and he closed the front door._

_"Dimitri you need to give me a chance to show you how sorry I am!" she cried. He ran his fingers though his hair, he couldn't do it anymore.  
_

_"I'm going to go... You stay... I'll get my clothes in the morning"  
_

_"No no no no" she said quickly, "We can survive this, Dimitri! We can survive this! We're Tasha and Dimitri!"  
_

_"I can't look at you" he replied, shaking his head, "I look at you and I feel nauseous"  
_

_He paused and he reluctantly looked at her "We're not Tasha and Dimitri anymore."  
_

_"If you go now... We're not going to get through this" she shouted at him, "If you go now, we're not going to have a chance!"  
_

_He shook his head, he really couldn't look at her anymore. That wasn't how it was going to work in a marriage. He turned around and slammed the door on his way out._

* * *

Back in the bar, Rose continued to throw back shot after shot.

The bell rang again, and she turned reluctantly her hope slipping further and further away. Yet, there he stood in his duster coat, his bag in his hand. He glanced around the bar as if he was looking for her. Her gaze caught his attention, and he smiled. He lifted the divorce papers in his hand and handed them over to her. She looked down at the papers and saw his signature sitting on the line above his name.

He stepped closer to Rose, leaning down to her level and planted a soft kiss onto her lips. A wide smile formed on her face, as she wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled him closer and deepened the kiss.

He pulled back and grinned, "I love you too…"

* * *

**A/N - So im not that good at writing feelings. So bear with me while i figure out how to do it better.**


	10. You, Me and the Train

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N - Just a little fluff and angst  
**

* * *

Their moment was short lived, cut off by the sound of pagers around the bar and it included theirs. She glanced down at her vibrating pager, she grimaced at the sight of the words _trauma 911 _that appeared on screen, she was drunk. Rose looked around the bar, and everyone from the hospital looked at the trauma page from the ER.

"Hey Ambrose! Turn on the TV" demanded one of the residents from the hospital.

The TV turned to the news, images of a train collision with another truck appeared, debris sprayed in all directions.

"911…" Mason stated, reading his pager.

"We just worked 30 hour shifts…" Mia complained, grabbing her stuff.

"I don't have clean underwear…" Mason whined.

The TV kept playing, showing more disturbing images of the train crash.

"Looks ugly," Ambrose commented, as pretty much everyone left the bar to attend to the trauma, "I'm glad you got your guy, Rose."

"Thanks Ambrose I'll see you later!" Rose waved, exiting the bar, while holding Dimitri's hand. They rushed across the street together, hand in hand watching the ambulances roll into the ER. When the reached the trauma bay, the area was lined with ambulances and paramedics with the injured. They ran into the ER observing the overload of injured, she looked sadly at Dimitri and let go of his hand. They raced up to the locker room to change into their scrubs, rushing back down to help with the overflow.

She stumbled out of the elevator, realising the amount of tequila she drank was starting to take a toll on her body. She leaned against the door way, not putting on a trauma down like the rest of the interns. Stan strode into the ER wearing a suit, everyone stopped and looked at Stan with wide eyes, shocked at his attire.

"Alright people, let's move!" Alto ordered, he turned to push open the door into the ER but noticed Rose standing on the wall without a trauma gown, "Why aren't you in a trauma gown?"

"I seem to be a bit drunk…" Rose mumbled, "What? I was off duty."

Stan muttered something incomprehensible, before saying "Fine just stay out of the way, I'll deal with you later."

Rose staggered into the ER after her fellow interns, and saw the carnage and wreckage from the crash. She couldn't believe her eyes, when a man and a woman came into the ER on a trolley, their legs wrapped around each other and the paramedic held the pole that had penetrated both of their bodies.

She followed the two patients into the trauma room, looking at the pole that had gone straight through both of them.

"Is this the craziest thing you have ever seen?" The woman asked. _How are they still alive?_

She struggled to find the right words, but before her rationality could say anything the alcohol "Uhh… yeah…"

"Excuse me?" yelled the woman, capturing Christian's attention, "Are you going to get us out of here anytime soon?"

"No sorry, we need to know what is happening internally…" Christian apologized

"Well in that case, can I get a breath mint?"

After the x-ray, Mason, Alto and Rose were all crowded in the exam room, looking at the extensive x-ray collection they had gathered.

"Wow, the pole went straight thought her spine… the T8 is completely shattered," Mason commented.

* * *

Dimitri opened the door, shocked expression on his face looking at Rose who held an IV pole in her hand.

"What happened?" he asked worriedly.

"Uhh… Tequila…" Rose replied. He gave her a sympathetic smile before his attention was dragged to the x-rays.

"Look at this! These people are still alive?" Dimitri questioned, observing the scans of the patient, well in that case, 2 patients. She stared at his body posture as he tried to figure out the next step into removing the pole from their patients, she smiled at his movements _He picked her_ she thought happily. After a few heated arguments, the only way they could figure out how to do it was to pull one person off the pole, but that mean that person bleeding to death.

"I need to make a more detail neurological examination first," Dimitri informed, walking out of the room, "Dr. Hathaway"

"Oh no, you aren't taking her, she's drunk," Alto argued, before turning to Rose "I want a blood alcohol test and until you are completely sober you are not practicing medicine."

"I'm fine!" She argued back, letting go of her IV pole and moving her hands towards her nose, them back out and back to her nose, "See? I'm fine!"

Dimitri smiled at her persistence and cuteness from her touching her nose.

"No! Blood test NOW!" Alto shouted, stomping forward. She trudged around her resident and Dimitri caught her arm, giving her a slight quick peck on the cheek.

"You're cute when you're drunk…" he whispered into her ear, she giggled at his comment but pushed him away.

Dimitri made his way back to the trauma room, where the patients were situated.

"Can you feel that Miss. Krasnov?" Dimitri asked, rubbing his patient's foot.

"You're a hot doctor, hot doctors can call me by my first name…" she laughed.

"Bonnie" he said. She sighed at the softness of his voice, "Okay Bonnie, can you feel that?"

"Feel what?" she asked, "Oh I guess that means a no…"

"Could you wiggle your toes, Mr. Maynard?" Dimitri told the man attached to Bonnie. Mr. Maynard followed Dimitri's directions and managed to wiggle his toes.

"Are they moving?" Mr. Maynard inquired.

"Yes, Yes they are."

"Are mine?" Bonnie queried. Trying to move her toes, but her foot was still.

"Yes they are" Dimitri lied with a smile, keeping his patient calm, as he tried to begin to explain the extent of her injuries and how they were going to proceed. Christian entered the room at that moment, looking upon Dimitri for an answer, "I… Um… Bonnie… "

She looked at Dimitri, he didn't know how to tell a person that she was going to die because of a choice made by the doctors themselves, "Dr. Belikov, We have a pole going straight through our body, I've prepared myself for this for hours, what you have to tell me you can tell me"

"In order to save Mr. Maynard, we have to push you backwards off the pole…" Dimitri explained.

"Wait, why can't you pull us both off?" Mr. Maynard interrupted.

"The pole is blocking you from bleeding out, pulling it out would make you bleed fast," Christian explained.

"Doesn't that mean, that if you pull Bonnie off, you would kill her?" Mr. Maynard asked, tears starting to gather in his eyes, "No… No… that's not fair, im older, I've had my time… I can't be one to be saved, you must save her."

"Mr. Maynard… You injuries are less extensive, you have a higher chance of survival than she does," one of the surgeons in the room explained.

"No… No… please… No…" Mr. Maynard cried, the tears glided down his cheeks.

"Tom… Tom… it's okay," Bonnie reassured, her tone was soft, tears ran down her face too, "I've already told myself it was bound to happen, you deserve to life a longer and healthier life. Dr. Belikov lied, I didn't wiggle my toes… I would probably not walk again… I won't walk down the aisle to my fiancé, I've already told myself so you save yourself okay?"

Tom didn't reply, he just stared into the blank distance, allowing the tears continue to fall, "It's not fair"

"Tom… It's not fair either way, let me do this for you…" Bonnie said, rubbing his back slowly. Dimitri took a step closer to Bonnie taking her hand and rubbing small circles around her palm, giving her reassuring glances.

"Tell the OR that we're coming" Alto whispered to Mason.

* * *

Rose barged into the scrub room, after tipping the hospital upside down in search for Alto. She made it till the OR in time to ask Alto if she could scrub in. Dimitri came out of the OR, after settling Bonnie and Tom into the OR.

"Scrub in quick Hathaway," Christian commanded, looking back at Rose, while he entered the OR. Alto followed not long after and her, Mason and Dimitri in the scrub room. Mason stood between them, scrubbing his hands, Rose looked at Mason who was looking back at her, _Go please Mason…_ Mason got the message and left the room, leaving them alone.

"Hey…" She basically whispered.

"Hey to you too… Did you take an aspirin with that banana bag? Helps with the hangover," He advised, seemingly attempting to avoid the subject of the status of their relationship.

"Do you regret picking me?" Rose blurted, maybe the alcohol wasn't entirely out of her system. He stared at her, surprised at her lack of resistance.

"No!" He pecked her lips quickly, trying desperately hard not to touch her and have to re-scrub.

"Dr. Belikov! She's crashing!" yelled the OR nurse, who tapped on the window. He ran into the OR and prepared them for separation. They pulled Bonnie off the pole quickly, putting her on the neighboring OR table. Christian opened her up, putting his hand directly into her body, feeling for injuries and the aorta, he shook his head in defeat.

"Her aorta is completely shredded" he said, pulling out his hand.

"Doc, His pressure is dropping!" yelled the resident on Tom's side. Dimitri and Christian quickly left the table, leaving Rose alone by Bonnie. A squeal of the monitors notified her of Bonnie's heart status, flat line.

"What about her?!" We can't just leave her!" Rose yelled at them, but they were concentrating on Tom's injuries to even regard her words. Mason was the one to react when she yelled again, turning to join Rose by Bonnie's body. Rose took her hand off the retractor and performed CPR, "You can't… you can't leave her, she needs someone to fight for her…"

* * *

Dimitri realized her hidden meaning to her words, they hit close to home, knowing how close she was to losing him. He knew she had a bad childhood where here family was constantly leaving her, leaving her to fend for herself. He couldn't help but feel guilty that he had caused her pain, it was his fault, his fault that she felt this way. He loved her for what she believed in, how she cares for people even with her past of having nobody want her, being dumped by her mother for surgeries.

He took his hand out of Tom's body, and walked over to Rose who was still performing CPR. He looked at Christian for confirmation whether he could handle the surgery on his own, receiving a nod. He wrapped his arm around her gently pushing her out he led Rose out of the OR, taking off her surgical mask, as well as his own. He untied the string holding her surgical gown, and pulled it off her numb body.

When they finally left the OR, she leaned against the wall just outside the OR, she inhaled sharply, before looking up at him.

"I love you Roza…" he breathed, planting a soft kiss on her forehead, and he pulled her closer. He wasn't one for PDA but right at that moment he didn't care one single bit, because he made the right choice despite the hesitancy, she was the one.

After several long moments, he pulled back, just far enough to look her in the eyes. He then reached forward, tenderly wiping his thumb under her eyes to remove the tear stains on her cheeks.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He tilted his head. "For what?"

"For picking me."

"Oh, Roza, don't thank me. I'm so sorry I made you think that I would leave you. I'm sorry I didn't sign the papers right away."

"No… I get it… I get why you hesitated," Rose supported.

"This is why I love you," he smiled, not hesitating to wrap his arms around her again, "Let's go home…"

"Dimitri, I'm sorry to burst your little bubble of happiness but its four in the morning, I have rounds in in 2 hours," She told him with a laugh. Her smile was contagious, and he smiled with her.

"Then we'll just have to make this moment last won't we?" He smirked, weaving his hand though hers and pulled her into an on-call room. When they got inside away from the prying eyes of the hospital nurses, he pressed her up against the door. They kissed passionately, savoring every moment with each other. He lifted her shirt above her head and relished on her soft skin. _Tasha_ he suddenly thought, then he realized.

"We…" he began, but she kissed him again, "have to…" he started again, but her soft plump lips drew him back, he pulled away again "stop…"

"What?" She pulled back, he panicked at her sudden movement from his arms.

"No… No… It's nothing, just that I'm technically still married and I want to do this right with you, I don't want to have her on my conscience when I make love to you," He explained. She fell limp back into his arms, letting him hold her for longer before he had to leave, "I'm off now so I'll get her to sign it and she and I will go to the lawyers. Then she'll be on the next flight back to Russia."

She nodded, and reluctantly let her go. He opened to door of the on-call room, letting her go out first. She turned around and kissed him one last time and headed to the intern locker room.

* * *

**A/N - Because this chap was so short ill upload the next chap tomorrow too ;) **


	11. The Future and the Past

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N - to clarify Bonnie in the last chap succumbed to her injuries sorry i should have said so, her injuries were extensive like her aorta was shredded meaning her main artery from her heart to her body was in pieces so she bled to death. =(**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Dimitri was a free man. He smiled at the memories of Rose in his arms the previous night after her breakdown. That following morning he had gotten up early to ready himself to finalize the end of the ordeal.

It had turned out Adrian and her not only cheated on him, when he left they maintained a relationship before Adrian had fallen back into his old ways of picking up women in bars.

He stepped out of the lawyer's office, feeling the freshness of his new status of the official boyfriend of the love of his life. No more Jimmy Cricket moments. No more thoughts. Just him and Rose. _Finally._

He had promised Rose that he would meet her at the hospital once he was done. He got into his car and drove towards the hospital without a second look back. Though he could help the feeling of being followed, he glanced at the rear view mirror, noticing Tasha's car not far behind. _What does she want?_

He pulled up into his usual parking spot, he looked around to see whether Tasha had followed him all the way here. But there was no sight of her car. _Thank god_.

* * *

While Dimitri was at the lawyers office, Rose left the house for the nursing home. She drove out to the closest coffee shop and picked up a muffin for her mother. It was a short drive but she was dreading the moment of meeting her mother again. Since she was reliving her residency days she had said things that no daughter would want to hear.

She stepped out of her car and headed inside, she sat down with her mother at the far end of the room. Her mother still refused to eat the muffin, always telling Rose to get the labs or go on scut. Who knew a visit to her mother was exactly like going to work everyday.

They were interrupted by Abe, who came in a with a box in his hand.

"Chief!" Rose yelped in surprise.

"Yes, well the nurses called and said she wasn't eating so I brought her something," Abe explained.

"Ibrahim!" her mother cried, standing up and planting a kiss on Abe's cheek. Rose glanced at the couple curiously, as her mother pulled the box out of Abe's hands, "For me? You shouldn't have!"

Rose was confused, thoroughly confused at her mother's actions, like a person... in love?

* * *

When Dimitri stepped into the hospital, he had a feeling, he couldn't pinpoint the exact feeling but someone was here… He brushed the feeling away, and stepped into the awaiting elevator. The elevator stopped on the floor below the surgical floor and Rose marched in. She smiled and pretended that he wasn't there, she turned and had her back facing him. They were alone. He tiptoed closer to her, but he didn't touch her, he brought his lips closer to her neck so she could feel his warm breath on her skin. She shuddered, and pulled the emergency button on the elevator.

She pushed him against the walls of the elevator and kissed him hard, he let her tongue roam his mouth. His hands moved to her hips and slid them against her soft curves. She pulled back slowly and inhaled, when her noticed that she wasn't going to continue the kiss, he was about to open his mouth to protest. She hushed him quickly, and released the emergency stop button and the elevator when back into action.

"We're in a hospital, Dimitri," she told him seriously, "We can do whatever we want tonight."

The elevator dinged and she walked out of the elevator without him. She quickly came back her giggle lightening the room.

"You might want to deal with that…" she laughed, pointing at the bulge in his pants. He groaned as her voice made him want her even more. He pulled the emergency stop button once it close and breathed in, attempting relax to relieve the pulsating feeling in his groin. With no such luck he stepped out of the elevator

He made it to the main reception without people staring, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly, and turned around quickly meeting the eyes of his childhood friend Mark.

"Mark!" he shouted, pulling his friend into a slightly awkward hug, "What are you doing here?"

The look on Mark's face said it all, he pulled his friend into an empty conference room. He sat down in the chair opposite his gloomy friend.

"A month ago, her mother died of ovarian cancer," Mark explained.

"I'm sorry…" He replied sympathetically.

"Then Oksana got worried about the breast/ovarian cancer gene,"

"BRCA" He nodded in understanding

"She's scared, Dimitri." Mark told him quietly. "I've never seen her like this before. She won't listen to reason. She won't even slow down enough to..." he trailed off. "She tested positive and is willing to do whatever she can to avoid ever getting cancer."

Dimitri hesitated before speaking. "With the positive allele, she has a fifteen percent chance of not developing cancer. There's only one way to make that one hundred percent."

Mark nodded. "Why do you think she came to see Tasha?"

"Tasha is going back to Russia, we finalized the divorce this morning,"

"Not what I heard, I heard she was staying here, that she got a job here," Mark explained.

"That explains everything…" Dimitri sighed, letting his head fall heavily into his hands. _Damn It!_ "Go find Oksana I need to talk to the Chief."

Mark nodded and left the room. Dimitri's anger grew and he stormed up to the Chief's office.

"YOU GAVE HER A CONTRACT?" Dimitri yelled once he opened the door.

"Dimitri…" The Chief said quietly.

"YOU KNOW I LEFT RUSSIA BECAUSE OF HER!" He screamed

"DIMITRI!" The chief shouted back before softening his tone "Tasha is a business decision, you know she is the best in her field, she is a good asset to this hospital."

Dimitri huffed, he paced the floors of the office, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You're friends are in conference room 2. Now get out of my office," The Chief demanded, breaking the awkward silence between the two men.

Dimitri turned to the stern look on the Chief's face, he shook his head, and slammed the door on his way out.

He stormed to the conference room, and was met by Rose leaning on the door frame. He was really confused by her presence, what was she doing there? Then it hit him, she was assigned to Oksana's case. Why the heck is Tasha assigning his girlfriend to her service? She turned around and caught his staring, he gave her a sympathetic yet supportive smile. He leaned into her cheek giving her a light kiss before entering the room.

"She has an 85% chance that she will develop the cancer," he overheard Tasha saying to Mark.

"And a 15% chance that she won't." Dimitri interrupted.

"No one invited you to be in here!" Tasha yelled at his entrance. Dimitri went over to Oksana's side and pressed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Good to see you Oksana," he greeted.

"Dimitri, I love you and all but until you grow a uterus and watch you mother die from cancer, you… you don't get a vote" Oksana said, "I'm sorry Dimitri, but no matter what you say, nothing is going to change, this surgery is going to happen."

"Oksana…" Mark began.

"No! Mark, there are other ways to start a family," Oksana pushed. Mark sighed in defeat.

"Dr. Hathaway, I want a full patient's history and a pre-op assessment, get her scheduled for a double mastectomy and get Dr. Queen the plastics department for reconstruction…" Tasha commanded. Rose stepped up and took the chart out of Tasha's hand.

"Dimitri," Mark prompted him to help.

"This conversation is not over! Tasha!" Dimitri intervened, "He has a right to say his…"

"She is MY patient, Dimitri." Tasha shouted back and turned back to Rose "I'll be doing a bilateral prophylactic oophorectomy and hysterectomy tomorrow. Get moving."

Dimitri stood up furiously. He met with Rose outside the conference room.

"What is she still doing here Dimitri?" She asked once out of earshot of his friends.

"The Chief offered her a job here, she's new head of Neonatal," he sighed, "I knew nothing Rose.. honestly, I found out just before I got here."

"Okay…" she said, looking down at the floor.

"This doesn't change anything… I love you, just because she is here doesn't mean we can't be together," he assured, lifting up her chin.

* * *

Rose drew the blood from Oksana's arm, avoiding the gaze from her boyfriend's friend.

"So you must be the famous intern?" Oksana started.

"I have to get these to the labs," Rose replied, closing the lid of the little vial of blood. She tossed the vial into the zip-lock bag.

"Oh you don't have hold back just cause I'm Tasha's friend…" she said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm your doctor, not your friend's girlfriend," Rose dismissed, ripping the gloves off her hands.

"Well I'm taking your boyfriend and his ex-wife out for dinner so don't wait up for him," Oksana said bitterly.

Rose ignored Oksana's words and walked out, she crashed into the back of somebody when she looked down at the bag she held. Why hadn't Dimitri told her about the dinner?

"Oh! Sorry…" she yelped.

"That's okay…" said the man, "Ah, you must be Dimitri's girlfriend, I've heard a lot about you…"

_Oh man_ she sighed, just what she need... a confrontation of Oksana's husband. A warm hand wrapped around her waist right before she opened her mouth to speak, she could smell his aftershave and she relaxed at his touch.

"Roza, this is Mark, one of my best friends from Russia," Dimitri introduced, Mark stuck his hand out and offered her a handshake.

She lifted her hand to shake his hand. She gave him as much of a smile as she could muster after the confrontation between Oksana.

"It was nice to meet you Rose," he smiled, turning to walk away towards his wife's room. Rose turned in Dimitri's arms, and he leaned down to give her a peck, but she turned her head so that he kissed her cheek instead.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing I'm fine…" she shook her head. He gave a sigh of defeat and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"Well Oksana and Mark have invited me to dinner tonight to catch up, is that okay with you?"

She was surprised at his question, "I… um… yeah" she muttered.

* * *

Dimitri met up with his ex-wife on the catwalk above the lobby of the hospital, confronting her on why she was letting Oksana practically castrate herself, possibly deprive her of her sex drive and lose the ability to have a baby.

"She's MY patient, Dimitri!" she yelled at him.

He rolled his eyes. "We've established that. I meant asking what the hell are you still doing here?"

She spun to a stop. "I can do whatever I want with my life, Dimitri. You don't get to have a say anymore. You're not my husband anymore," she hissed.

"Thank-god for that," he shot back. He stopped himself from saying more, but she stormed away one he realised how much of a jerk he was acting. He grabbed her arm to stop her moving away.

"What do you want, Dimitri?" she spat.

He sighed and glanced around, "We need to call a truce," he told her.

"What?"

"We need to call a truce," he repeated. "You and I need to get it together so we can be civil so we can actually help Oksana and Mark. She came to you, so you're in support of surgery, and he came to me, so I'm not in support. But it's their decision, and it's important they discuss it before anything drastic happens, cause if she has the surgery, there's no going back. And they need to be in agreement either way. And we need to stop fighting with each other and help them."

Tasha regarded him for several seconds, as if looking for any reason to doubt his words. Then she nodded. "You're right. We need to help them."

"So, we're calling a truce?"

Tasha nodded. "Truce."

"Good. I talked to Oksana, and she said she wants the four of us to go out to dinner tonight. Is that okay with you?"

Tasha narrowed her eyes. "Will that be okay with Rose?"

Dimitri chose to ignore the tone of her voice. "She said it'd be fine," he said quickly.

"Fine," Tasha agreed, stomping away from him.

* * *

Dimitri shifted in his seat as Tasha sat next to him, and the uncomfortable silence was beginning to tire him. The bar was strangely empty at this time of night.

"Here's to taking life in your own hands," Oksana was saying, holding up her glass. Dimitri followed suit, admiring the bravery of his friend. She was certainly holding herself together... without the support of her husband. Dimitri wished he could shake Mark into realizing he needed to be there for Oksana, even if he didn't agree. He at least needed to talk to her before the next morning, instead of arguing with every word.

"And here's to bull and here's to crap," Mark had added after clinking his glass against his wife's. "Here's to oophorectomy, hysterectomy, double bilateral mastectomy. How smart am I for knowing all those words?" If the situation hadn't been so tense, Dimitri would have laughed at Mark's words. "Here's to breast reconstruction, nipple reconstruction. Here's to losing your wife, and here's to being the ass that can't be supportive. Here's to that." He lifted his glass, drained its contents and left the table.

"I'll go after him," he said, reaching across the table to give his friend's hand a little squeeze of support.

He found Mark collapsed in the front waiting room of the hospital as soon as he walked in the front doors. His normally happy friend was bent over, head in his hands. Dimitri sighed and approached quietly.

"You need to get some sleep and sober up so you can be ready for Oksana's surgery tomorrow."

"So, I'm supposed to hold her hand while they rip her apart? That's the definition of love?" Mark sat further back in the seat, obviously not planning on leaving any time soon.

Dimitri sighed and sat down across from Mark, determined to help his friend this time. "You can do this," he told him.

"Maybe I can't. Maybe I'm just a guy who likes to screw his wife." Dimitri shook his head, but Mark continued anyway. "That's what she'll think when I'm not there."

"But you're going to be there."

Mark laughed at him, the alcohol obviously affecting his speech as he slurred into a new argument. "This is coming from a guy who packed his bags in the middle of the night and flew thousand miles to live in a trailer?" He asked sarcastically.

"That's not the same thing," Dimitri countered.

"Isn't it?"

"No. Your wife didn't cheat on you with your best friend. She didn't betray you. She's scared and in pain and needs your support."

"But she didn't even ask me! She decided everything one day before I got home from work. I walked in the front door and she told me flat out that she was flying out here to see Tasha and that she had already booked the plane tickets. Isn't this something we're supposed to decide together?"

Dimitri nodded. "Yeah, in a perfect world, but this is not a perfect world, Mark. This is a world where people who are supposed to love you can do horrible, irreversible things to you in the blink of an eye."

"Exactly..."

"No. You don't get it, Mark. Oksana loves you. She loves you and she's terrified of getting cancer and dying young because all she wants is to spend as much time as possible with you. Don't you get it? You two love each other and you'll get through this. You can't give up because it's hard right now."

Mark's expression changed, and he nodded his head in understanding.

"Rose, really did change you, you seem happier…" Mark commented.

Dimitri smiled at the thought of Rose and how they could be forever, "Yeah… yeah she really did."

"Speaking of the devil…" Mark said suddenly, breaking Dimitri's line of thoughts.

"Hey," her voice said, his grin grew wider as she stepped up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you off now?" Dimitri asked, his question was answered by Rose gesturing to her casual clothes.

"You're dinner is over? Already?" she questioned, noticing the earliness of the night.

"Mark here did a runner…" Dimitri explained, motioning to his friend.

"Well I think I'm going to head back to the bar and apologize, thank you Dimitri," Mark thanked, he turned to Rose, "You have turned him into a wise man, thank you to you too."

Dimitri smiled as he looked down at Rose, who laid her head on his chest. He took a deep breath and wrapped a tight arm around his girl, smelling her hair letting the gentle flower aroma calm his senses.

Rose pulled back and regarded him, her head tilted just so. "Are _you _okay?"

He smiled warmly at her, his fingers threading through hers. "You know what? I am. I really think I am."


	12. Stupidity

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – Largest Chapter project… Split into two parts**

* * *

**Chapter 12  
**

When the alarm blared to tell her to wake up, Rose was already awake. She stared blankly at the wall, as she attempted to figure out the feeling of dread and wrongness that sat at the pit of her stomach. The feeling was becoming nauseating, she couldn't pinpoint the exact feeling but it was just something. Something definitely wasn't right.

She heard Dimitri groan behind her, his arm reaching over to her side to turn off the alarm clock. Dimitri's body rubbed against her back, his warmth spreading through her body. She relaxed against his touch but the feeling still wouldn't go away. It still sat there on her mind. Dimitri said something but all she could think about was the unmistakable feeling that something bad was going to happen that day.

She felt the bed lighten as Dimitri got out of bed, she heard his footsteps followed by the bathroom door closing. Her bedroom door swung open to her roommate barging into her room.

"What are you doing? We're going to be late!" Mia yelled, yanking the blankets off Rose's motionless body. She watched Mia's expression change as she seemed to realize her discomfort.

Rose groaned and nuzzled her face into her pillow, her body shivered at the sudden exposure to the chills of the morning.

"I don't want to go…" Rose said, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"You have to go! You're a surgeon! You have to save someone's life!" Mia cried, the annoying tone of her voice made Rose pull Dimitri's pillow over her ear.

"Not today!" Rose yelled from under the pillow. When Rose finally realized that Mia had shut her pie hole she swung Dimitri's pillow back his side. Mia had padded to the bathroom door, and knocked.

"Your girlfriend is not getting out of bed! Dr. Belikov!" Mia yelled into the crack of the bathroom door. The bathroom door swung open revealing a half-naked Dimitri with his toothbrush in his mouth. Mia screamed and quickly shut her eyes, "I do not need to see you naked Belikov!"

Mia turned and ran straight out of the room. Dimitri smiled at Rose, who was giggling at her friend's reaction.

"Well that got her to shut up and leave…" Dimitri laughed, he looked over at her, and she ceased her giggling as the feeling began to creep up on her once again, "You okay?"

"I have a feeling…" Rose mumbled.

"I get feelings…" He assured, "It will pass"

Despite all the reassurance Dimitri gave her, she still refused get out of bed, she didn't want to go into work and have a bad feeling, as if she were going to die that day.

A few minutes later, Dimitri left the room, she noticed Lissa's presence at the door.

"Come on! Get up! We're late!" Lissa yelled from the foot of her bed.

"No…" Rose whined, pulling the covers to her neck.

"Get up!" Lissa shouted, pulling the covers off her body. Lissa climbed up onto the bed and kicked Rose onto the floor.

"You suck" Rose complained, pushing herself off the floor. She trudged to her door and swung it open to expose three heads pressed up against the air from where the door once stood.

"Let's go" Lissa smiled, trailing her best friend out of the house. A loud ring filled the hallway, followed shortly by another pager ringing. Soon after all their pages were ringing, _911 Trauma_ appeared on screen. Rose looked at her pager sullenly and walked towards the car. Rose could feel Dimitri's worried eyes on her dull form.

* * *

The drive to work was quiet, she knew Dimitri didn't want to pressure her into discussing the 'feeling' that she had all morning.

When they made it into hospital they ran directly towards the ER, Rose grabbed the trauma gown and put it on. The feeling grew stronger as she stepped closer and closer to the doors to the ER. She stopped just at the entrance, staring at the door that blocked the feeling from mounting. Dimitri placed his hand on the small over her back, giving her a gentle nudge to send her on her way. She looked back at him, and he gave her a supportive smile.

Together they stood with the other interns at the Emergency bay, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Sirens echoed through the bay, and stopped once the ambulance reached the entrance to the ER. The paramedics guide a woman out of the ambulance, once the woman saw the doctors, she screamed and kept screaming. The paramedics pulled the patient out and Rose realized that one of the paramedics had her hand inside the man's chest.

They rushed inside to the trauma room, which was filled with the screams of a woman in fear. Christian met the group in the room, squeezed the muscles in his face, as he heard the screams.

"Get an OR and tell them we're coming!" he ordered, Rose released the lock on the gurney and pushed the bed out of the room.

"What do you want me to do?" Lissa asked.

"I want you to shut up that woman and get her to tell us what happened" he demanded, pointing at the ear-piercing woman.

* * *

Eddie and Mia stood at the woman's side, Mia's hand blocked her ears, as the screams were becoming too much. Lissa joined their side as they watched the woman keep shouting.

"She's been shouting for 15 to 20 minutes now" Eddie commented, "That's got to be a record"

"At least we know she is breathing well" Mia replied, leaving to attend to the incoming trauma. Lissa followed Mia out into the Emergency bay.

"I thought Ozera told you to shut this patient up?" Eddie yelled after Lissa.

"Oh No! He told me to tell you to shut this patient up" She shouted back at him.

"Ms. Carlson…" he began, but she continued to scream, her shouting was so loud that he couldn't even think that the woman had heard his words, "I need you to calm down"

The woman kept going, the cries were making his ears ache, "Ms. Carlson" he started again, this time the woman looks at him with wide eyes and screamed again. He let her scream for a further few seconds before getting up closer to the woman. He brought his face directly in front of hers and screamed loud. Ms. Carlson went quiet.

"Good, now can you tell me what happened to your husband?" he nodded, the woman stuttered on her answer and started to cry. She leaned into his body, taking refuge of his presence. He got the woman situated onto the bed, and got a nurse to help her change out of the bloody clothes she had on.

"Mindy? Mindy? You in here?" asked a voice from behind the curtain.

"In here you moron!" the woman yelled,

"How's Sam doing?"

"Oh he's bleeding all over the place! That's how he's doing! The girl in the ambulance put her hand inside of him for goodness sake!"

"What are you yelling at me for?"

"Because! You and my husband are so stupid! No one re-enacts World War 2! You MORON!"

"Exactly what happened?" Eddie asked, turning to the man who had come in.

"You want to know what happened, my husband and his moron best friend"

"Can you stop calling me a moron?" the man interrupted.

"MORON best friend decided to build a BIG gun" Ms. Carlson continued raising her voice.

"It's not just a big gun it is an exact replica of the M9A1 Bazooka" The man defended.

"They put on their stupid costumes go into the backyard and tries to shoot the thing! Only it doesn't work! So my idiot of a husband goes out to check the stupid thing, he stands in front of it too AND THEN it decides to work"

"Woah wait he shot himself with a bazooka?" Eddie asked,

"Yeah" the woman said.

"Was there an explosion?" he asked the man, the knowledge beginning to feel like a dead weight.

"No… Why?" The man questioned.

"Shit!" Eddie yelled running out of the ER

"Oh CRAP!" The man shouted in realization.

Eddie sprinted towards the elevator and down to the OR floor. He grabbed the nearest scrub mask and held it up to his face as he stormed into the operating room.

"DR OZERA!" Eddie shouted into the OR panting from all the running, "I need to speak with you"

"Castile I'm in the middle of surgery"

"You want to speak to me Sir" Eddie said in all seriousness. Ozera must have sensed Eddie's distress and put down the scalpel. Christian made his way over to Eddie, just as he want to say something, Eddie interrupted.

"Was the shot through and through?" Eddie whispered.

"No… just an entry wound… no exit… why?" Ozera questioned curiously.

Eddie sighed, he leaned into Christian's ear and spoke "he shot himself… with a bazooka… live unexploded ammunition sir."

"Are you sure about this?"

"100% certain"

"Hannah," Ozera asked, turning to the paramedic with her hand inside the man's chest. "What do you feel? Do you feel anything hard? Like Metal?"

"My finger tips… they're touching something sort of hard…" Hannah replied, her voice beginning to shake as the anesthesiologist stood in realization, "Yeah… Yeah definitely something…"

"Dr. Hathaway," Ozera called, when Rose made it over to them, Eddie could see her curiosity rising from her face behind the mask, in hushed tones Ozera demanded "I want you to go out to the nurse's station and tell them Code Black"

"I'm sorry Code black?" Rose questioned, confused at the term.

"Tell the Charge nurse, that we have a code black and that I am very sure and that he needs to call the bomb squad,"

Rose stared at the man in front of her in horror, _Bomb Squad?_ She couldn't help but think back to the morning when she had that dreaded feeling of dying. She walked slowly out of the OR and informed the nurse of the situation. She fumbled with the phone dialing to the main nurses' station to inform them of the code black, while the charge nurse called to cops for the bomb squad.

* * *

Half an hour later, the ventilator was removed from the patient, and the bomb squad followed soon after. Rose stood in the hallway awaiting further instructions, when the elevator doors opened.

"Dylan Young, bomb squad" the man introduced, "This whole floor has been evacuated?"

"Yes…" she replied nervously.

"We got people here!" yelled another member of the bomb squad who was looking into OR2. She wondered curiously at who was in the room. Lissa came out and was pushed up against the door by the squad.

"He's operating on an open brain in there he can't stop," Lissa explained. Rose's heart beat faster and faster in her chest, pain starting to radiate from her sternum as her heart began to add pressure to her chest. She felt an overwhelming sense of 'I told you so' from the feeling.

Dylan rushed into the OR and started talking with the surgeon inside, she couldn't hear the words he said due to the incessant ringing of her ears. It was obvious that the surgeon wasn't leaving, even though she couldn't hear the surgeon, Dylan's sigh of defeat showed just enough. Her fears started to become real, and serious. But her determination overcame her sense of fear, she was going to stay and help in as much as possible. The bomb squad made their way over to the OR which held the patient and a frightened Hannah. Together the squad and Ozera x-rayed the patient's chest, in the attempt to find a safe passage to remove the bomb.

While Ozera and the squad were in the viewing room, Rose kept Hannah company. Hannah's fears spread across the room, and Rose could sense Hannah's desperate desire to remove herself from the dangers she had put herself in.

"Pink mist" the anesthesiologist said softly, as he pressed the ambu bag, pushing air into the man's lungs, "That's what they call you when you blow up… Pink mist…"

"Dr. Milton! You are scaring her!" Rose yelled at him, "Hannah, your hand is preventing the man from bleeding out, you are keeping him alive, the bomb squad is here and they will get you out, you do not have to be afraid,"

"No… No… I want to take my hand out… please… I don't want to die…" Hannah whimpered. She shifted in her spot, preparing herself to take her hand out. Lissa suddenly entered the room, and Dr. Milton immediately takes the opportunity to leave. _Coward_

"DR. MILTON!" Rose yelled at him, but he didn't stop nor look back.

Lissa rushed over to take over the manual ventilation, but Hannah was already putting her hand on top of the patient's chest ready to take out her hand.

"Take this to the finish line you can do this," Rose assured; now standing by Hannah's side. Lissa called out for help and Christian and Dylan came into the room.

"No…No… I want to take my hand out and be done with this…" Hannah sobbed. Rose closed the distance between herself and Hannah, she put her hand on top of hers, giving Hannah as much reassurance as possible. Hannah screamed at Christian and Dylan before pulling her hand out and running out the door.

Christian, Lissa and Dylan dived to the floor, in the attempt to shield themselves from the explosion, but there was no explosion.

"What did I do?" Rose whispered to herself, the four words continued to flow through her mind.

She could feel the warmth of the man's chest, his heart beat weakly under her fingers and realized what she had done, Hannah was no longer the girl with her hand on the bomb.

She was…

* * *

**A/N – Short but the next chap is longer**

**~Review**


	13. Thank God I Have You

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – The Bomb Part 2**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

All she could do was concentrate on breathing in and out. In and out.

In and out.

The feeling in the pit of her stomach had erupted.

She had had a feeling.

And all she could think about now was that she could die at any moment.

"What did I do?" She whispered for the umpteenth time.

"What did you do?" Lissa demanded. She was wrapped in a protective jacket, scowling as she squeezed the ambu bag. "I'll tell you what you did, Rose. You did the stupidest, most reckless thing I have ever heard of-"

Dylan moved over to put the jacket around Rose "Okay you know when not to be made fun of? When you have a hand inside a man's body with a bomb in it, or when you have a stranger Velcro-ing a flak jacket to your boobs"

"You've got a sense of irony," Dylan whispered into her hear, as he was pressed up against her, trying to get the jacket around Rose's body.

"I had a feeling," she whispered to Lissa.

Her best friend's expression softened, no longer scowling, but...maybe a little worried. She didn't say anything, but she understood.

"What's that?" Dylan questioned, not missing much in his close proximity.

"Nothing," Rose mumbled. She and Lissa had an understanding. They guy who was trying to save her didn't need to know she had woken up knowing she could die today.

Christian re-joined them in the room, its eerie silence began to creep up on Rose's senses. Christian whispered something incomprehensible and Lissa stopped pressing the ambu bag. Lissa looked apologetically at Rose as she left the room.

"So you have a plan right? You have a way to get me out of this?" Rose asked, tears threatening to spill down her eyes. The fear rushed fast through the body, and she was struggling to take control of her shaking hands.

* * *

His hands shook slightly, his patient was still open on the table, there was no way in hell would he evacuate with this man and his brain exposed. After the bomb squad had entered, he had to admit he was a little shaky on his feet, but he worked swiftly and efficiently to try and get the work done. Little did Dimitri know that the love of his life was in the next OR with her hand on a bomb.

Lissa scrubbed back into Dimitri's OR and grabbed the nearest scrub mask.

"Dr. Dragomir, this area has been evacuated" Dimitri said, as Lissa stepped into the OR.

"And somehow you're still here" she commented.

"I have to be here… you don't…"

"Yes I do" she mumbled, determined to stay.

"Dr. Dragomir"

"Yes I do!" she said louder, her voice was laced with fortitude, "besides I think you are in need of some company."

"How's the paramedic Hannah doing?" he asked, Lissa stumbled to find the words to answer his question because it wasn't Hannah holding the bomb anymore.

"She's hanging in there…" she replied cautiously, holding back any uncertainty.

* * *

Upstairs at the main nurses' station, The Chief sat worriedly at the floor plans of the OR floor, he guided his finger along the line that was causing him major problems.

"Can someone get me an update and the head of the bomb squad?" He yelled.

"I'm right here" Dylan said, stepping into the room, "I can have the bomb out in 10 minutes if I'm not interrupted again."

"The patient is under general anesthesia, that means the OR needs a steady flow of oxygen,"

Dylan stared at him in shock "Can't you turn off the oxygen supply to my OR?"

"I can and have…" He replied, "But, this is the ORs main oxygen supply" He showed Dylan of the line, that represented the oxygen supply, which led straight into OR3, The OR that the patient was in.

Dylan returned from his venture up to the main nurses' station after being summoned. Rose stood back next to the patient, her hand still pressing up against tear in the man's heart. Christian and Dylan were whispering to each other, they kept glancing back over to Rose as they spoke.

"Stop it." She yelled, after they turned around to look at her again.

"What?" Dylan asked surprised at her outburst.

"Stop looking at me like I am a patient! Both of you keep looking at me like a patient! STOP IT" she yelled, "Can you tell me what is wrong?"

"The main oxygen supply runs directly under this OR" Christian explained, his voice was calm, but that still didn't stop her from shaking with fear, realising that because of the oxygen supply, not just the OR was going to blow up but the whole hospital.

"So… So what are we going to do?" She muttered.

"We are going to move…" Dylan replied.

_Move?_ "I can't even wiggle my fingers because it might shift the bomb and you want us to move?" she cried.

"That is our safest… safest option," Dylan clarified again.

Christian slowly lifted the lever to release the lock holding the gurney to the floor. Together they slowly pushed the gurney through the hallway.

"Let's go over this again…" she told him, as they ever so slowly made their way to the OR furthest from the main oxygen line.

"The bomb is shaped like a rocket, I need you to wrap your hands around the bomb and pull it out… while level," he directed.

"You know I don't like you very much" Rose said.

"I don't like you very much either," Dylan replied. And she almost smiled at his honesty.

Lissa suddenly came out of Dimitri's OR, she looked confused as to what they were doing.

"What the hell is going on?"

"What are you doing here? I thought Ozera specifically said that you needed to leave," Dylan seethed, angry at Lissa's presence.

"Where is Ozera?" Lissa asked.

"Prepping the OR," Rose answered.

"Then he won't know… will he?" Lissa challenged.

"Stand over there!" Dylan commanded. Lissa stood on the opposite side of the gurney, looking at Rose push the gurney towards the OR.

"Tell me something," Rose said, looking at her friend.

"What do you want me to say?" Lissa asked.

"Lissa, I have a hand on a bomb, I'm freaking out, and most importantly, I really have to pee, tell me something! Anything,"

"He told me he loved me…" Lissa said after a moment of silence, "He didn't tell it to me directly, he told it to me while I was sleeping."

"Christian told you he loved you" Rose smiled, trying to relieve the tension that was building. She could feel Dylan's eyes on her.

"Mind your own business," Lissa spat. Rose couldn't help but smile at her friend's defense.

And in that moment, Rose was grateful for her best friend, because Lissa wasn't looking at her like the poor girl who was about to die. She was looking at her like her friend. And she was acting as such. "Well, are you going to say it back?" Rose needed to conversation to continue. She needed the focus to be on something else. And she was getting further and further away from her friend, even at their glacial pace.

"Absolutely not, he doesn't even know I heard it! Besides he is going to blow up," Lissa pointed out.

"Excellent point," Rose replied.

There was a sudden bang, the bed had caught onto a metal slit on the floor of the hallway. Her breath hitched and her heart skipped a beat. Rose gulped as she stood there extremely frightened by the sound the bed made when it contacted the bar. She looked back up at Lissa, who was beginning to relax.

"Okay everybody let's just place one foot in front of the other, alright Rose… we're almost there…"

"Okay…" Rose breathed.

"You had to say you were going to die today…" Lissa whispered.

"I told you" Rose replied. They finally reached the OR, it felt like the longest most excruciating moment of her entire life, what felt like a few hours, was only a few minutes. The life was stretching out before her.

Dylan instructed again, but all she could think about was her friends, her house, Dimitri. She suddenly couldn't remember the last time they kissed, even though they probably kissed the previous day, she couldn't remember the exact details. Dimitri had gotten in late that night so they definitely wouldn't have kissed, nor could they have done it that morning, especially with her tense mood. She was so glad that Dimitri was not on the OR floor, away from all the danger.

"I'm ready…" she said without thinking. Christian opened the wound wider, but she couldn't move, she froze in her place.

"Hathaway…" Christian said softly, trying to get her to move.

She pulled down the mask covering her face "Mason and Mia shouldn't move out of the house, you should make sure that they… they get to stay in the house"

"No… you are not going to die…"

"I can't! This is crazy, Christian you are going to leave. Both of you are going to leave, both of you should go!" She stammered, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Rose! Look at me!" Dylan demanded, "I know I have been an ass, and shouted at you all day, but stop, pretend that I'm not, think about someone you care about and imagine them standing right here."

* * *

In Dimitri's OR, Lissa walked back in, putting her surgical gown back on. He was still confused at Lissa's sudden departure and return. _What made her leave?_

"How's it going out there Dragomir?" Dimitri asked, still concentrating on the surgery.

"Everything is fine…" she muttered.

"How's the girl with the bomb?" He asked.

"How's the patient doing?" Lissa questioned avoiding the chances of spilling the beans.

"He's fine, You didn't answer my question,"

"I… Uh…" she stumbled, she couldn't handle the information anymore, the weight of it was becoming a huge burden, before she could stop herself, she blurted it out "It's Rose, the girl with the bomb, it's Rose"

Dimitri dropped the scalpel he had in his hand, he felt his head spin to meet Lissa's gaze, searching for some sign of deception.

This had to be a mistake.

But before he could respond, a portentous tone filled the room.

His patient had flat-lined. He turned to look at the screen, but he froze and couldn't decide on what to do next. His mind still flooded with images of Rose standing over the man and the bomb exploding in her face.

Lissa shouted his name and knocked Dimitri out of his trance, his patient was still coding on the table. The sound of the monitor consumed his mind, the man was dying and nothing was helping, he had administered all the drugs he could think of without moving the patient. Eventually he moved to shift the patient onto his back and performed CPR.

_COME ON! I DID NOT SACRIFICE LIVES FOR THIS!_ He yelled in his mind.

His actions slowed as the patient didn't change, angrily he smashed his fist onto the man's chest. The monitor began to beep, signifying a heartbeat. Dimitri was filled with a sense of relief, but that was short lived as he realised his girlfriend in the other room, with her hand on unexploded ammunition. His heart began to race, faster and faster, thumping against his chest.

* * *

Rose followed his orders and closed her eyes. She saw a bright flash of white light appear from behind her eyelids, and she opened them. Everyone was gone, Ozera, Dylan and other members of the surgical team that stayed behind. She was alone, alone with Dimitri. He offered her a gentle smile.

"I'm scared" she told him, tears falling down her cheeks.

"I know…" he said softly, "You can do this"

The sound of his voice calmed some of her nerves. She breathed in and out, she could hear her own breathing, becoming more and more labored, the beginning of a panic attack.

"You can do this Rose…" he said, the gentleness of his voice brushed away the oncoming panic attack. The whiteness and clarity of the room faded, Dylan's form reappearing. She pushed her hand deeper into the body and wrapped her hand around the bomb. The room suddenly felt cold, the bomb felt like ice under her touch. She slowly pulled her hand out of the body, the bomb as level as she could hold it. She watched her own hands lift the bomb and into Dylan's outstretched hands. He slowly moved out of the OR, and she stepped back, moving further and further away from the bomb. When Dylan finally left the OR, she felt a sudden urge to follow Dylan out into the hall. She wanted to watch what could have killed her that day to finally be taken away from her.

When she stepped out of the OR, she turned to see Dylan reach the end of the hall. There was a moment of eerie silence.

Suddenly, she heard a loud bang, Dylan and another bomb squad member disappeared before her eyes. The shockwave of the bomb knocked her off her feet; she must have flew almost 12 feet before landing hard onto the vinyl flooring. She could hear the glass shatter and the air was a light pink, reflecting off the blood from the explosion, the smell of burning flesh overwhelmed her. She felt her head impact with the floor, before she lost consciousness, she heard her name being yelled, and she let the blackness consume her.

* * *

Dimitri's thoughts were interrupted by a large bang, the door swung open slightly as the force of the bomb pushed its way to their OR. All the worst case scenarios ran though his mind, he dropped all his instruments and ran out of the OR. Dimitri saw her still form, he rushed to her side, he checked for her pulse, the artery under his finger throbbed. And he found he could breathe again.

"She has a pulse!" He practically yelled. "She has a pulse. She has..." He choked on his words. "It's even. And strong." His thoughts were being vocalized. He couldn't think in his head right now. Everything was going in slow motion. Everything was overly simple. "She's alive."

He moved his hand upward to cup her face. A drop fell from his face. And it was then that he realized he was crying. "Oh, Rose..." He carefully brushed the dirty hair from her face, cringing at the cut along her forehead. It looked shallow. Not enough to warrant stitches. Not enough to indicate head trauma.

She still wasn't moving.

"I need a gurney," Dimitri commanded, without looking up. She was on the floor. She had obviously fallen, been forced off her feet by the explosion. There could be head trauma against the back of her skull. There could be a counter coup against her frontal lobe. She could have damaged her spine. She could have-

She moaned. And opened her eyes. And blinked.

"Rose?" He leaned over her, trying to meet her eyes, but disconcerted when she didn't meet his. "Roza, it's me. Tell me what hurts."

She blinked again, but said nothing.

He held back a sob. She wasn't responding. Her beautiful face was covered in blood. Her body could be broken. Her eyes were distant.

Lissa dropped to her knees beside him, and she helped Rose get up off the floor. Rose reluctantly pulled herself up, but Dimitri gave her a slight push, and helped her onto a wheelchair. He thanked the heavens at her movements showing no major neurological damage to her spine.

"I love you Rose" he whispered, threading her fingers into his and giving her hand a slight squeeze

"I… love… you… too…" she breathed, setting her head onto his shoulder, as she sobbed.

"I'll take her upstairs," Lissa told him, "You need to finish with your patient, he is still open on the table."

Dimitri nodded in understanding, and squeezed her hand again, "I'll be back with you as soon as I can…" He brushed his hand over her face one more time and she leaned into his contact.

Dimitri reluctantly stepped back into the OR and closed up his patient, the wait was excruciatingly painful knowing his love was scared and in shock. When he was finally done he didn't hesitate to dump everything into the tray and race out of the room. Once he reached the elevator he was met with Christian, who stood there waiting. Dimitri lifted a hand and gave his fellow surgeon a shaky pat on the back.

The ride in the elevator was quiet, his hands shook despite Christian's reassurances. The elevator was only going up two floors but it felt like hundreds. The doors finally opened, revealing a mass of hospital staff standing before them. Dimitri glanced around searching for Rose.

"Where is she?" He asked the Chief.

"She's getting cleaned up, she's okay, I did an examination, she's fine, in shock but she'll be okay," The chief replied, "They're at the intern locker room"

Dimitri ran, not even contemplating on taking the elevator, he raced up the stairs up to the next floor towards the locker room. He could hear the shower running, he stopped in his tracks, squeezed his eyes shut and sucked air into his lungs, forcing them to expand. He wheezed. The world began to spin. He staggered into the back wall and lowered himself to the floor. He had almost lost her forever.

She had come far too close to leaving him.

He gathered his thoughts and shoved them far back into his mind, he swiped his hand across his cheeks wiping away the tears.

"Dr. Belikov!" Mia cried out in surprise, as he stormed into the women's bathroom. She and Lissa were dressed in very wet scrubs. Rose was between them, standing with the support of her friends. But her eyes were vacant.

The breath was knocked out of him. She was standing. The Chief had said she was fine. But there was still something terribly wrong.

"Dr. Belikov, we'll be done in a few minutes if..." Mia was saying, but he wasn't listening.

"Oh, Roza," he whispered, striding across the damp floor in three quick steps before pulling her into his arms. She was freezing against him, despite the steam in the air. The cut on her forehead was red and puffy. She held her hands against her chest shielding her upper body from his touch, she slowly relaxed and wrapped her arms around his body.

She was breathing. She was alive. And that was all that mattered right now.

Dimitri shut the interns' voices out and closed his eyes, tightening one arm around her waist as the other ran up her back to her hair.

She moved just a bit in his arms; shifted.

"She hasn't said anything," Lissa offered. "After she got her scans she kind of shut down."

Dimitri sighed and pulled back, searching her empty eyes for a sign of her. Her pupils were downcast, staring unseeing at the floor. He ducked his head and struggled to meet her gaze. There was no response for many moments. And then her irises flickered and he found her staring back at him.

"Dimitri..." she whispered. Her torso hitched.

"I'm here. I'm here," he repeated, pulling her close again.

She lifted her arms and pushed against his chest, keeping him away long enough to wrap her arms around his neck. "Dimitri," she said again.

"Hey," he shushed her gently. "You're okay. I'm here."

Her breathing hitched again and she tightened her grip.

"I love you so much, Roza." He was surprised to feel tears on his cheeks. He had come far too close to losing her.

"I love you." She shuddered. "I couldn't remember the last... I tried but I couldn't..."

He hushed her again, placing his chin on her shoulder, she started to hug him tighter. He thought of all the things she could be thinking at that moment. Their moment was disturbed by the entrance of the Chief.

"What in the world are you doing in here?" The Chief asked in disbelief.

"I'm hugging my girlfriend. Last time I checked, that was allowed after everything that happened today," Dimitri snapped.

"This is the women's shower," The chief stated.

"And yet, you're in here too."

There was a pause and the Chief left the bathroom. Dimitri could hear the Chief stop outside of the bathroom, "You need to talk with your patient's family by the way!" The chief yelled from behind the door.

Dimitri sighed, but didn't budge, he knew he had to inform the family of his patient's status but he couldn't bear to leave Rose alone.

"Go…" Rose whispered, pulling away "I still need to change, Lissa and Mia can take over for a while."

"I'm not leaving you," he replied, tugging her back into his arms,

"He's going to be fine, he crashed once! Check the chart!" Dimitri yelled to the door. He could hear the Chief sigh in defeat as well as his footsteps away from the door. He helped Rose wash the blood out of her hair, brushing his hand through her wet locks. Lissa and Mia assisted Rose into her casual clothes while he went to the parking lot to get ready to take her home. A few minutes in, Rose and her friends made their way to the car.

The ride home was quiet, he monitored her breathing while he drove, and worried that he could lose her again.

"I saw them… die right in front of me… like they were there… and then they weren't…" she whispered, breaking the silence.

He pulled into the driveway and laced his hand into hers offering his support. He got out of the car and helped her out. He pulled her in for another hug as she sniffled.

"You almost died today," he continued when she didn't.

"Yeah, I almost died today," she agreed.

He buried his face into her hair, "I'm glad you didn't die today."

She squeezed his hands, "Me too."

They walked inside, his hand on her waist. He guided her up the stairs, supporting each step. They finally made it to the bedroom and he was glad for it. He sat her on the bed, and climbed into his side, he pulled her body close to his and spooned her. Her hair smelt different, it no longer smelt like the flower that it usually smelt like but he didn't care. At that moment he was entirely glad that she was still with him.


	14. Sensitivity in Strangers

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – Welcome to Chapter 14 – The aftermath of the bomb arc and introducing a new character! I love this chapter ;)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

It had been a week since the bomb incident, and Rose was back at work. The past week had been grueling, she continued to have dreams of the men blowing up in front of her sometimes it wasn't Dylan with the bomb, it was Dimitri. She awoke every morning to the sounds of Dimitri's worried voice. She remembered the day, the first day she had cried after the bomb, finally feeling the emotion of sadness, after days of feeling numb.

_It had been three days._

_Three days since the bomb had gone off, turning two solid people into infinite pieces of matter, liquid and air. Three days since she had held that same bomb in her hands only moments before. Three days since she had almost died._

_It had been three days, and Dimitri had barely left her side._

_The surgical wing was quiet and nearly empty. All of the staff members in close vicinity of the bomb were required to attend a one hour therapy session. Rose and Dimitri had both had theirs the day before. She had known that nothing that day had been her fault, but it was still nice to hear the therapist say it. Yesterday hadn't been too bad._

_Today had been horrible._

_Today she and Dimitri had attended the memorial service for the two fallen members of the bomb squad. The chief had been there. And Lissa and Christian. And Hannah. And Mr. Carlson's wife and three kids. And the surviving members of Dylan's team. It had been surreal. She had cried._

_She had felt numb the evening after the bomb had gone off, when Dimitri had held her in bed and she had fallen asleep in his arms. She had been more herself the next morning, but still numb to certain feelings. A few tears had been shed during her therapy session. But today she had sat beside Dimitri on the hard wooden chairs, clutching tightly to his hand, and she had cried. Silent tears had streamed down her face from beginning to end._

_These men had saved her life. And now they were dead._

Dimitri was a amazing, he was the full support that Rose had needed, always stepping back and not hovering. It's because of him at Rose was able to mend herself as quickly as she did.

* * *

Rose had started out the day on a bad note with her mother. She had been decided to visit the nursing home that morning, check in on her mother's deteriorating memory.

And whe definitely didn't need this now.

Her mother had had an affair. She had cheated on Rose's father; a father Rose had never seen again after the age of five.

"That man makes me purr like a cat, only if he's not making me growl like a tiger…" Janine dreamed.

"Mom!" Rose cried.

"I go home with a hickey on my shoulder, a hickey for god's sake, and he pretends he doesn't care,"

Her head fell into her hands as she moaned.

* * *

"Invasive non-small cell with history of COPD," an unfamiliar, husky voice said over her shoulder, as its owner read off the computer screen in front of her. She turned to look at the sudden intruder into her personal space. "The guy's pretty much a goner."

She raised an eyebrow, taking in the tall, built, sexy man who now stood beside her. "Sensitivity; I like that in a stranger..." She looked back at her chart. "Are you new here?" She assumed he was a doctor.

"Visiting. I'm confounded by all the rain, and it's only my first day in town..."

She could see exactly where he was going with this little conversation he had initiated. And she had to admit he was very attractive, and exactly what she would have gone for in the past. She wandered down the counter in front of her. "You get used to it," she called over her shoulder, hoping he would get the hint.

He didn't get the hint; or rather, he chose to ignore it. He seemed like exactly the kind of guy who would ignore it. He followed her down the counter. "It makes me want to stay in bed all day."

She couldn't help the smile that came to her face. He definitely had balls to say something like that; so outright. She turned to him. "We just met and already you are talking about bed?"

"You know, you're not very subtle," she added.

"Subtle has never been my strong suit," He smirked.

She shook her head, again moving away from him.

"So," he began, continuing to follow her. "Do you ever go out with co-workers?"

He was definitely in need of a stronger hint. She stood up straight and met his eyes. "Only one."

"Hmm, what a shame, he's a lucky man to have someone as beautiful as you…" he practically purred.

He huffed, and changed his tactics. "So, this boyfriend..."

"What about him?"

"Well, I just want to know that he's good for you."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "And why would you care?"

"I like to think that we've bonded in the past few minutes. I need to know that he's good for you, so that you're happy."

She shook his head. "He's perfect for me."

"Perfect, huh? I guess my chances are getting slimmer," He stuck his hand out as a peace offering.

Rose rolled her eyes in good humour and went to shake his hand. "I'm Rose."

He opened his mouth to respond, but a shadow fell upon them, and then the handsome stranger was on the floor. And Dimitri was hissing as he unclenched his fist, glaring menacingly down at the crumpled form.

Rose gaped. "What the hell was that?"

His gaze ticked to her, immediately softening. "That...was Adrian." He spat out.

She sucked in a breath. She didn't have to ask who Adrian was. But before she could explain that nothing happened, she was interrupted by the stomping of a very angry man.

"What is going on here?" The Chief boomed, "You, You and YOU! Conference room NOW!"

The Chief pointed Rose, Dimitri and Tasha, who was huddling on the corner. Eddie and Mason helped the Adrian up from the ground as Rose walked away. She looked up at the cut on his cheek, and he caught her eyes, giving her a smile. Rose quickly turned away before Dimitri noticed her attention on Adrian.

Rose held Dimitri's hand as they walking into the conference room, she inspected his knuckles which were bruised from the sucker punch. She silently giggled at the proud feeling the welled up inside her. The Chief stormed in and threw an ice pack on Dimitri's hand but Dimitri just pushed it away.

"Put the damn ice pack on your 2 million dollar a year hands!" The chief shouted. Rose grabbed the ice pack and put it onto his hand, "Now can anybody tell me why the hell would my head of Neuro punch a man on my surgical floor?"

Dimitri glared at Tasha, his face said it all, he wanted Tasha to explain.

"That was Adrian…" she began.

"Who the hell is Adrian?"

"He and Dimitri used to work together back in Russia, we er... we were all close friends…" she explained, "Until Dimitri found me and Adrian... in bed together."

The Chief sighed in understanding before slamming his hands onto the conference table. He looked over at Dimitri,

"Did you put your weight behind it?" The chief asked suddenly.

Dimitri nodded in shame, looking down at his hand.

"Well, alright then." His sternness dissipated and he exited the room. Rose held back a giggle as the Chief left them alone without saying another word.

"Why is he here Tasha?" Dimitri spat.

"I don't know," was all she could say, and she left shortly after.

Rose quickly turned to Dimitri, now seizing the opportunity to explain.

"Dimitri! I'm so sorry! I didn't know that was Adrian… I told him I was taken but… he was so persistent" She was flustered; her heart in her throat, overwhelmed by the need to prove to him that nothing had happened, that she hadn't wanted anything to happen.

"Hey." His left hand released his right to hook onto her elbow. "That had nothing to do with you."

She stuttered. "I promise, Dimitri, I told him about you... I-"

He leaned in and pecked her lips to shut her up, but once he pulled away he lifted his finger onto her lips before she could say anything.

"Oh Rose, clean up Adrian will you?" ordered the Chief as he came back into the room. She opened her opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by the stern face that the Chief held. She glanced at Dimitri apologetically and stood up. She brushed a light kiss on his cheek before leaving him alone with the Chief.

* * *

She inserted the freeze into Adrian's cheek, the nasty gash definitely needed stitches.

"Dimitri and I always had the same taste in women," Adrian commented, giving her an award-winning smirk.

"Excuse me?" She laughed, rubbing the antiseptic onto his cut.

"You're Dimitri's lusty intern, am I right?" he questioned curiously, "Heard about you all the way back in Baia, you're famous"

She chuckled remembering her conversation with Mark when they came to the hospital a few weeks back, "And I heard about you all the way from here… so I guess we have a lot in common"

"We're the dirty mistresses," he declared.

"I suppose we are," she smiled,

"You know something funny?" he asked turning to look at her, she grabbed his face and turned it back, "When Dimitri found me naked with his wife actually in the throes and he just turns around and walks away, but he sees me so much as talking to you and I'm on the ground bleeding, interesting don't you think?"

"Oh yeah interesting, she said sarcastically "Except the fact that I'm his girlfriend, so I guess he is excused."

"Ah. Wow I really need to be more careful when picking up women in hospitals." She chuckled at his statement, moving to grab the sutures, she came back and was about to start, but he pulled away.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"You need stitches," she replied.

"I know, hold the mirror," he demanded, she was confused for a moment but realised what he was saying. She took the mirror and passed him the sutures.

* * *

Outside the examination room, Lissa, Mia, Eddie and Mason watched the events unfold, as Adrian lifted the stitches to his face.

"Why is he suturing his own face?" Mason asked.

"To turn me on…" Lissa smiled.

"Cause he's Adrian Ivashkov, one of the top plastic surgeons in the world," Eddie explained.

"That's the guy Tasha cheated on Belikov with?" Mason whispered.

"Can't really blame her, Can you?" Mia smirked, looking over at Lissa.

"No… Not really…" Lissa replied. Rose emerged from the exam room and joined her fellow interns at the nurses station.

"McSexy wants an xray to check for fractures in his cheek bone, and I don't think I should do it for him…" she informed. Eddie immediately left, not wanting in on the developing conversation.

"McSexy?" Lissa questioned.

"Mmm… No…" she murmured.

"McYummy?" Mia suggested

"No." Rose and Lissa said together. Rose stared back into the exam room, and the name hit her.

"McSteamy"

"Oh yeah… there it is…" Lissa sighed, staring at Adrian finishing up his face. They all giggled at the thought of his new nickname.

"Urgh… and I'm just going to choke back some McVomit," Mason hinted, as he left the girls to their daydreams.

* * *

She was videotaping the thirteenth hate tape when she finally lost her cool with her patient.

_None of these people, not one of them, knows how I really feel. My whole life, I've kept it all inside. I don't want to carry this with me to my grave._ He had told her, she was consumed by the thoughts of her father, and how he left her all those years ago to the custody of her surgery driven mother.

She pilled all the hate tapes into the bag, and left the room. When she reached the outside of the room, and put the chart into the slot next to the room, she was greeted by the Chief, "Rose."

"Chief," she acknowledged, her thoughts consumed her mind, knowing that the Chief was a resident with her mother, so he'd bound to know what happened all those years ago that led to her destroyed childhood, "Chief! Can I ask you a question? Not work related?"

"Um… Sure…" he replied, putting on his glasses to take a look at the chart in his hand.

"Did you know my father?" she blurted.

"Yeah, yeah I did," he answered.

"Do you know why he left?" she continued.

"I believe your mother asked him to…" he told her.

"Right but do you know why?" she questioned. She noticed a slight moment of hesitation

"No I don't, I'm sorry," he said quickly, but she didn't push him for answers, "Well have a good day…"

Rose's near death experience brought new thoughts into her head as well as her mother's admittance that morning. She wanted to find what went wrong 20 years ago that led her to the world of dark and twistiness.

* * *

Lissa and Eddie observed the heated argument between Dimitri and Adrian in the Chief's office, after Adrian had taken Dimitri's craniodiaphyseal dysplasia patient.

"Did he just call him a crack whore?" Lissa asked, after reading Dimitri's lips.

They bent closer to the window, as they tried to read the lips of the Chief.

"What are you guys looking at?" Mason asked as he saw them standing at the window, their faces pressed up against the glass.

"Adrian wants to do facial reconstructive surgery on the bony tumour guy, and Dimitri is angry, really angry." Eddie explained.

"I have a patient in the pit, who has spontaneous orgasms." Mason told them, pretending that it was nothing. Both Lissa and Eddie turned their attention to Mason. Eddie suddenly raced away, followed shortly behind by Mason and Lissa.

* * *

Dimitri stormed out of the Chief's office to find Rose at the nurse's station holding a directory, she was flipping through the pages, and she didn't notice his presence.

"Roza?" he asked, when she ripped the page out of the book. She looked up at him, and handed her the page. He tilted his head to his side wondering why she was giving him a piece of the directory. His eyes were caught to the top of the page, the last name printed on the top '_Sage'_. He had remembered the story of her father that she had briefly mentioned a few weeks back.

"I want answers…" she said quietly.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he suggested.

"Yeah, but I want to talk to him myself…" she replied. He nodded in understanding. His pager went off at that very second and knocked him out of his trance of the deep depths of her eyes. His patient was ready for surgery.

"We'll go after my surgery?" he proposed. She nodded in acceptance and he went to scrub in for the surgery.

* * *

Dimitri threw the towel into the biohazard bin and raged out of the OR, his patient had bled heavily once he had opened the skull flap. His patient was dead before he could even begin to help him. He searched the hospital for Rose, only to find her sitting in the room behind the nurses' putting video tapes into manila envelopes.

"You have given up surgery to do clerical work?" he laughed, attempting to relieve the tension in the room. She was quiet until she finally turned to him.

"I'm fulfilling a patient's dying wish of sending hate tapes to everyone he has ever met," she explained, hiding her nerves from him. He could tell that he was hiding, but decided against it to push her for answers.

"Ah… Right now I understand the impulse," he sighed

"Why do people cheat?" she asked, her voice filled with wonder.

"That's a good question…" he replied.

"Why do you think she cheated on you?" she suddenly questioned, "Were you different then? Were you a bad husband?"

He sighed shaking his head slightly, dropping into the seat next to her.

"I was a little… absent, not that that was an excuse for her, but I will _never_ be absent with you."

She gave him a soft smile before continuing, "Do you think things would have been different if you had kids?"

"Do I think she wouldn't have cheated? I don't know" he answered truthfully.

"Well, I'm done here so do you want to go now?" she suggested. He nodded and helped her up from her chair, they changed and jumped into her jeep.

The drive was short, her father only lived 15 minutes' drive from the hospital. Although she sat in the car in silence for almost an hour before she unbuckled her seat-belt and got out of the car. Dimitri was so tempted to go with her to the door, but decided against it and respect her wishes. He moved over to the driver's side expecting her to want to run back and just jump into the passenger seat so she could get an easy get away.

Rose stood at the door for another moment, before inhaling and pressing the doorbell. There was no answer so she rang again. Finally a man came out of the shadows and to the door. She could see his face through the glass window on the door. The man stopped and stared in shock, not opening the door. When he finally did, she spoke

"She had an affair…"

"Yes…" he said in surprise.

"Why did you fight for us?" she asked.

"I did, I tried…" he replied. He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. His actions shocked her, he didn't even intend to invite her in.

"Why didn't you try harder?" she questioned as the tears began to fill her eyes.

"Rosemarie… is there anything that you need? Anything at all?" He asked. _Answers? My childhood_? She thought.

"No… I don't need anything from you." She said with a hint of bitterness. She turned and walked down the front lawn towards the car. She hopped into the passenger side, and Dimitri drove away, further and further from her father's house.

His pager had told him he was required back to the hospital so that's where they were headed. The drive back to the hospital seemed shorter than the drive there, her tears kept flowing down her cheek. She could feel his worried eyes on her from time to time, especially when they were at traffic lights. He'd sometimes lift his hand off the steering wheel and want to touch her, but he'd stop and put his hand on the gear shifter. She was glad he didn't push, pressuring her with answers, or questions at what happened at the house.

"I'm going to go to Ambrose's so when you're done meet me there?" she said, breaking the silence.

"Sure," he smiled, this time taking her hand, giving it a soft rub of reassurance.

When they finally reached Ambrose's she gave him a soft kiss and stepped out of the car.

"I'll see you soon," she said with a hint of a smile.

"Yes you will…" he smirked. He smiled at her soft giggle right before she closed the door. She walked in front of the car around to his side. He opened the window and she leaned down for another kiss. He brushed his hand across her cheek.

"I love you," she said against his lips.

"Love you too…" he smiled. She turned and walked away from the car and into the bar. She slumped against the counter, ordering a shot of tequila. She threw back the shot and it burned down her throat.

"Can I buy you a drink?" said a soft manly voice that she recognised as Adrian's voice.

"Ahh, you're ignoring me." He said after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm trying to," she replied. She silently laughed at the similarities between Adrian's words and Dimitri's on the night that they met.

He sat next to her, placing a half glass of scotch down next to her empty shot glass. "You didn't have a problem talking to me this morning."

"You look sad…" Ambrose asked, as she took a seat further away from Adrian. Ambrose poured her another shot.

"I saw my dad for the first time in 20 years," she explained, as she drank the shot of tequila. Adrian slid into the spot next to hers again, smiling as he did so.

"Ouch, how did that go?" he winced.

"Could have gone better…" she muttered, "Why are you still here?"

"I'm waiting or hoping that Tasha shows up," he replied, she remembered her situation with Dimitri a few months back, when she asked him to choose her.

"Dimitri did, I gave him an ultimatum, Tasha or me, told him to meet me in this bar if he chose me, and he showed up, Tasha will show up too," she said giving him hope, "Okay now times up. Dimitri will be here soon,"

"Oh come on… the dirty mistresses should stick together…" he whined, grabbing her arm.

Rose sighed and stood, the last thing she needed was Dimitri walking in and seeing this, or hearing about it through the hospital gossip pool. She pulled her arm out of his grasp and moved to another section of the bar. Although she was unaware that Dimitri had already seen everything. A light brush on her shoulder made her jump, he pressed a small kiss on her head, telling her that it was him. His scent made her smile.

"I saw that you know…" he whispered. She jumped up in shock, about to tell him that it wasn't what he thought, "Don't worry, so what do you say we go to the trailer tonight?"

She smiled at his smirk and he pressed his body up against hers. She let him lead her out of the bar, and she turned back to look at Adrian sitting alone at the bar. She leaned her head on Dimitri's shoulder as they stepped out of the bar, his hand still wrapped around her waist as he guided her to the car.

* * *

**A/N – Thanx everyone and enjoy the rest of your week!**


	15. Secret Histories

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 15  
**

It had been a month after her near death experience, Adrian had flown back to Baia after Tasha had stood him up at the bar. She felt sorry for him, he couldn't have what she had with Dimitri. She wondered what could have happened if DImitri didn't show up at the bar that night. Would he have gone back to Tasha? Given her a second chance? How long would it have lasted?

Rose lay still in her bed, Dimitri's arm draped over her belly. She turned to look at his sleeping form, so peaceful.

The memories of the past month flooded into her consciousness, she had found out that Mason was in love with her all this time and had threatened Dimitri not to hurt her. Soon after his confession, he fell down a flight of stairs, dislocating his arm, now he met an orthopedic resident, Jill, and they seemed to be hitting it off.

She lifted Dimitri's hand off her stomach, setting it down on her pillow without stirring him. She padded across the hardwood floors of her room and into the shower. She let the warm water calm her senses, but a slight sound caught her attention and two soft hands slid around her waist. His hand caressed her curves gently massaging her body soap onto her body. She turned to meet his dark brown eyes.

"You shouldn't be in here… My boyfriend wouldn't be happy about this…" she teased, wrapping her arms around his body.

"Oh really? Well it seems your boyfriend is very lucky to have a woman as beautiful as you…" he whispered into her ear. His soft Russian accent sent trickles of shivers across her body. He turned her back around, raising his hands massaging her shoulders. She moaned at his touch. He pressed his body closer to hers, she could feel his arousal pressing against her back. She laughed at his hardness, loving how much she turned him on.

He lightly kissed her neck, sending her emotions into overdrive.

"Oh god…" she groaned, and his hands stroked her.

* * *

Mason wondered what he must have done to receive such karma. After his confession to Rose, he hid from her with every possible cell in his body, but her life seemed to be following him everywhere. Everywhere he looked she was there. He was standing outside his patient's room, since he was on Tasha's service he was assigned to the patient transferred from another hospital. After informing the patient on the surgical procedure he exited the room, bumping into a man probably in his late 50's

"Oh I'm sorry sir!" Mason cried, grabbing a hold of the man so he didn't fall.

"That's okay…" The man said.

"Can I help you with something?" Mason asked.

"Yes, um…" The man stammered "Is a Rose Hathaway working here today?"

"Oh! Yes, would you like me to page her for you?" Mason replied non-commitedly.

"No!" the man said quickly "No…"

"Okay," Mason said, he glanced at the man curiously, the man looked strangely similar to Rose, despite her darker tan, and eyes, "Wait! Um Sir what's your name?"

"I'm Jared, Jared Sage…" the man introduced.

"You're Rose's father." Mason stated. The man nodded as if in shame.

"Jared, honey, We're in here!" yelled the mother of his patient, he spun quickly realizing that Rose had a sister, a pregnant sister to be exact and step-mother she probably knew nothing about.

"Oh! Right…" Jared muttered, walking towards the mother.

* * *

Lunch came by quick, Rose had worked with Jill most of the morning fixing a man's broken hip. She yawned as she sat down at the cafeteria joining her friends at the table.

"I swear, I thought I saw my father here at the hospital" she said, putting a chip into her mouth.

"Oh! That's good, that's very good!" Mia relaxed. Rose glanced at her friend curiously.

"Did you meet your sister too?" Lissa said excitedly. _Did she just say sister?_

"Sister?" she asked. Mia and Lissa exchanged looks, before turning back to Rose and apologizing.

"I thought you knew…" Lissa explained.

"No… It's okay," she assured.

She didn't know what she was feeling anymore as she paced outside of her 'sister's' room. She kept an eye out for Jared and his wife, ready to run straight for the hills. She caught sight of Tasha's long black hair tied up in a ponytail.

She noticed Tasha look in her direction, nudging her head for Rose to come into the room.

She reluctantly met Addison's gaze and was surprised to find understanding and sympathy where she normally found pain and regret. The older surgeon even went so far as to offer a supportive smile before turning back to the patient.

"Zoe, this is doctor...this is Rose," she corrected easily. She's going to be checking your vitals."

Rose sucked in a breath as she was passed the chart and left alone with _the patient_.

"Hi," Rose managed to say, offering a small, hopefully professional, smile, trying to pretend this really was just another patient.

"Hey," the patient responded politely, offering her a nod.

"Do you mind if I..." Rose held out the blood pressure cuff.

"Oh, no," the patient responded with a small laugh. "I'm getting used to being poked and prodded."

Rose smiled and nodded. She hesitated, searching for something to say, her eyes caught of the patient's left hand. "That's a pretty ring."

"Oh, thanks, it was my grandma's...and then my mom's..." she paused, looking up at Rose. "You think I'm too young to be married."

"Oh, no, I don't," Rose stuttered, reaching into her mind to save herself from the impending argument from her half-sister.

"It's okay; everybody thinks I'm too young. If I saw me, I'd think I was too young."

"H-how old are you?" Rose asked cautiously.

"Twenty-two. Eric's twenty-three. He's in the army and he was getting shipped out...and I just love him so much, you know?" Zoe offered with a small shrug and a simple smile. "Anyway," she continued. "I proposed."

"And your parents," Rose brought up the topic carefully. "They approve?"

Zoe smiled warmly. "Oh, my parents are amazing," she said without hesitation. "And you know how dads can be..."

Rose nodded along, even though she had no idea.

"Mine's pretty overprotective," Zoe continued. "But...at my wedding, when he gave me away, my dad cried. I mean, I'd never seen my dad cry before. But I think it was kind of weird for him, because I'm like...his little girl..."

Rose swallowed a lump in her throat. She had been Jared Sage's little girl once upon a time. Before he left her she was his daughter, his precious princess. Her memories of that time was foggy, catching glimpses of images of her father playing with her on the red wagon that he got for her 4th birthday.

Zoe sighed and continued. "I'm the youngest, and my sister is nowhere near ready for marriage."

Rose felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Two daughters. He had two daughters, she had another sister…

"...But it was good crying, like he was proud of me." Zoe finished with a smile. "I'm sorry," she said quickly as she took in Rose's less than enthused expression. "I'm just nervous...so I'm talking..."

"It's okay," Rose said quickly, trying to steer the conversation back. "So, you have a sister?"

"Sydney," Zoe supplied. "She's in medical school. She's the smart one. You should see how my dad is about her. He's like crazy proud."

Rose sucked in a breath. She had gone to medical school; but no one had been proud of her. "Well, I'm going to go."

"Rose?" Zoe spoke up, meeting her eyes. "Do you think my baby's going to be okay?"

"I hope so," Rose told her honestly.

"Me too."

Once she was farther away from the room, she approached the orthopedics room.

"I need some bones to break!" she yelled once she was inside, her eyes met Jill's who stared back surprised at her entrance.

"What?" Jill asked.

"Some bones to break, something to smash, can you help me with that? Please?" she begged.

"Um… Well you can clean up this cast graft if you want?" Jill offered pointing to the plaster mould sitting on the table at the back. Rose picked up the mallet and smashed the cast into tiny pieces, the powder spraying up into the air. She grunted in anger each time she smashed, she imagined his face on the cast and she slammed the mallet on the cast where she pictured his face.

"So you and Mason?" She overheard Mia ask.

Jill huffed, "You guys don't get it, he's just Mason to you… Mason makes my world stop. Mason Ashford is sweet and kind and smart and strong," Jill listed.

Mia went quiet, her eyes wide open, the shock of her reaction definitely could not be missed even from the blind.

"He makes my world stop!" Jill repeated angrily, "So you shut up about him!"

Jill wrapped up the paper in her hand and stormed out of the room. Rose stopped for a second to look up at Mia's expression, but brought down the mallet onto the cast once more.

"Holy Crap… Mason is Jill's McDreamy…" Mia said in disbelief.

Rose stopped and stared back at her best friend.

"That's so cute!" Mia squealed speeding out of the room leaving Rose alone with the mess of plaster across the floor. She cleaned up the mess before taking a chart back to the nurses' station. On her way she walked past a woman, holding a cup of coffee, staring at her.

"I saw pictures once…" the woman said, "You look just like her… your mother? You look a lot like my girls especially Zoe, I saw you talking to her."

She quickly realized that this woman was her step-mother, the 'replacement' woman figure in her father's life, the woman who gave him 2 daughters to compensate for the his vanishing act when she was 5.

"I didn't say anything," she said hurriedly, "I didn't say anything about anything."

"Oh, well she know about you, or that she knows that her father was married before and had another daughter, _Has_ another daughter" the woman corrected.

"No… _had_ is right,"

"Your father thinks about you… he thinks about you a lot…" the woman told her, Rose couldn't reply, her words refused to form in her mouth, so all she could do was nod, "You're mother… You're mother she broke him…"

Rose cleared her throat, she had enough of this conversation, she couldn't hear any more of this.

"I'm sorry… I have to work" she lied. She raced to the OR board, searching for Dimitri's name. His name wasn't on the board so she took the elevator up to the neurosurgical floor and into his office. He sat with his head down into the pile of paperwork set out before him.

"Roza!" he yelped in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Tears started to develop in her eyes, as she stepped deeper into his office. He must have noticed the sadness in her eyes because he stood up quickly and wrapped his body around her trembling body, just as her tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Oh Roza…" he breathed into her hair, pressing a light kiss of comfort, "You alright?"

"My father…" she mumbled, "he's here, at this hospital with his wife and bright and shiny married and pregnant daughter."

He hugged her tighter and she relished in the comfort of his muscular body. They stood there for what seemed to be hours but really just a few minutes until they heard several gunshot noises in the distance. They immediately lock eyes, shock was not even a word that could describe the feeling they were experiencing. They both into burst into the ER, spotting Christian laying still on the gurney being pushed into the trauma room. Rose's pager goes off, _911 Mason: Aaron's room now_. She exchanged glances with Dimitri as she rushes out of the room.

She searched her mind for patients in the past week. She remembered Mia's obsession over a patient, Aaron, she believed his name was. He was a heart patient admitted in need for a heart transplant, but she hadn't been paged for his case for days. Why are they calling now?

She slid the ICU doors open to reveal a frantic Mia, pumping a device connected to a tube.

"Mason's page said it was an emergency?" she questioned curiously, wondering what Mia was doing that was making her sweat.

"You paged ROSE?" Mia cried, she began pumping whatever it was faster, she was obviously freaking out.

"We need all the help we can get!" Mason argued.

"What the hell is going on?" Lissa shouted, as she came into the room too.

"She cut his LVAD wires!" Mason informed.

"What do you mean you cut his LVAD wires?" Rose and Lissa said together, "Are you trying to kill him?"

"I'm trying to save him! All I need to do is confirm that he is getting worse and then Ozera will call UNOS and get him bumped up on the transplant list," Mia told them. Rose felt her feet bottom out from under her, Ozera isn't coming.

"Mia…" she began but Mason and Lissa began conversing, "MIA! About Ozera! He's been shot!"

Everyone's eyes were suddenly directed towards her.

"What?!" Lissa cried, tears building up, her chest heaved as her breath was knocked out of her.

"Lissa! Lissa! He's fine, he's with Dimitri and the Chief! Right now Mia is in trouble, we need to get him the heart now!" Rose commanded. Lissa reluctantly agreed. "Okay we need to get labs and an echo, Lissa I need you to do the echo, only you know how to do it."

Lissa took out the ultrasound and performed the echo, her tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"His… his… left ventricle is shot, he's barely pumping blood…" she said, pushing away her tears.

"Mia..." Aaron gasped "Marry me..."

"PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME WHAT I THINK IS HAPPENING!" A loud booming voice knocked the interns out of their state, "Everybody step away from the patient!"

The interns stepped back except Mia who kept pumping Aaron's heart. Rose stood in silence listen to Alto lecture them to the depths of hell. Eventually, Aaron was rushed into surgery after Alto signed of his chart. They sat against wall below the OR board, it was like kindergarten all over again, punished for their participation in the unfolding of these events. One by one the interns were pulled away for an emergency, first Lissa then Mia, this left Mason and Rose alone.

The sound of the door being pushed open caught Rose's attention and out came Dimitri wiping his hands on the towel he was holding.

* * *

Christian had been lying, vulnerable, on the table, surrounded by co-workers, with the knowledge that he may be about to lose a huge part of himself, that his life and job and everything he had worked so hard for could disappear, right in front of all of the people who respected him for what he did. All the while his girlfriend cowered in the corner, unable to look at him.

Dimitri couldn't imagine being in the same situation, couldn't imagine having no control over whether he would ever operate again.

"Do you have a minute?" He met Rose's gaze and motioned towards toward the quiet end of the hall. They could find an empty on-call room or conference room.

She still made no move to get up. "I, uh, guess I have a minute, but I can't leave this spot."

He raised an eyebrow, glancing between her and Mason. They wore similar expressions. Dimitri detected anxiety, worry and guilt. "Why not?"

Rose hesitated. "Uh... We're kind of on a time out..."

Dimitri blinked. "A time out?"

"Mmm-hmm." She and Mason both nodded.

"What did you do?"

She shook her head quickly. "I can't tell you."

Dimitri sat down onto the hard floor beside her. "Why not?"

She met his eyes and shook her head. "I just can't. Trust me, you don't want to know; not from us. Alto refused to let us explain even."

"Why would he do that?"

Rose pressed her lips together into a thin line and sighed.

"Rose?" He prompted, suddenly worried.

"Something about not wanting to be able to testify against us in a court..."

He felt his blood run cold. "What did you do?"

She shook her head again. "I can't tell you."

"Rose-"

"No," she cut him off quietly. "Trust me, you don't want to know just yet."

"Okay," he agreed; reluctant, "Just...how bad is it? How much trouble are you in?"

Rose turned away to glance at Mason, who shrugged, and turned back to him. She shrugged too. "We don't know yet. Alto is going to deal with us later, and probably the Chief."

Dimitri inhaled sharply; "But you're not in danger of..." He trailed off, not able to say it. He couldn't imagine coming to work every day without her by his side.

"I hope not," she said simply.

"Then it'll be fine," he told her, he reached for her hand and entwined their fingers.

"Thanks." She squeezed his hand.

They all sat on the cold hard floor below the board in silence, he could tell his body was radiating his curiosity to the world. She gave him a small smile, before leaning on his shoulder.

"How was Christian's surgery?" she asked suddenly, lifting her head off.

"Hit a complication… but I think it's okay now," he told her, she relaxed again, twisting her arm around his.

Right at that moment, he thought everything was going to be alright, just because she was there with him, right by his side.

* * *

**A/N - So um... im going to go on holidays so one last update and there wont be another till about mid-January... Hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
**


	16. High School Reminiscing

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 16  
**

Rose stood between Mia and Mason in the Chief's office, the anger the chief was emitting could be sensed by anyone miles away, it wasn't hard to miss. While he shouted at the line of interns in the room, the evidence was piecing itself together in her mind. Her mother's words

_He doesn't love her, he can't but he'll stay with her anyway, she's his wife…_

He was the reason her mother had divorced her father. He was the reason that she grew up without a normal childhood. He was the reason her father left.

She had to admit his furious tone was intimidating but at that very moment she didn't care, he destroyed her childhood. _Does the world really hate me?_ She thought to herself, his reluctance a few weeks ago about her questions regarding her father should have knocked some sense into her. Her boss practically ruined her life, and she was standing in front of the man with her job on the line. He was going to destroy her life again.

Abe Mazur had taken too much from her. And Rose was not about to let him take anything from Mia. She had banded her fellow interns together before their 'interrogation' and made them all promise to support Mia fully. There would be no confessions. Mia would not be kicked out of the program.

"I cut the L-VAD wire," Mia admitted beside her.

"Actually," Rose began, looking the Chief right in the eye, "I cut the L-VAD wire." She had made sure she was second in line. She would support Mia, and everyone else would fall into step behind her.

"No," Mason cut in immediately. "I did it. I'm the one that cut the wire."

Rose breathed a small sigh of relief. The plan was working. No one could be singled out and punished if they all stuck together. There was a short delay and she felt Mason shift beside her to prompt Lissa.

"Fine; I cut the L-VAD wire." Lissa was scared it was obvious, her hesitancy made it so.

It was Eddie's turn, "I didn't do anything. I'm totally innocent."

Rose exhaled quickly, disappointed. "Eddie," she chastised.

"I wasn't even here," he retorted. "He knows I wasn't here; you think he doesn't know that? The guy's not mentally challenged."

Arguments broke out between the five of them.

"I know who did this, so you might as well come clean," Abe cut in harshly. "I know."

"With all due respect, sir, if you knew, you wouldn't be asking us."

Rose had to bite back a smirk. She was proud of the progress Mason had made since she had met him at the beginning of the year. Here he was standing up to the Chief of surgery, when several months ago, she, Mia and Lissa had had to force him to go to the Chief with a bribe to get a brain dead John Doe a heart surgery.

Abe sat back and glowered at them.

Rose felt Mia begin the tremble beside her. "I did-"

"You have your suspicions," Rose cut in quickly. She had her own set of suspicions. "But you don't actually know." Mason and Lissa immediately backed her up.

The Chief was getting angry. He stood from his desk. "Well, one of you compromised a patient's life. One of you stole an organ. One of you jeopardized the integrity of this hospital, and of UNOS! Now you tell me, and you tell me right now!"

Silence.

"No surgeries! No one scrubs in. No one watches from the gallery. No one so much as goes near the OR floor. Until someone confesses the five of you will share one patient, Avery Lazar, whatever she wants, you five will provide it!"

And as her fellow interns filed out of the office, Rose stayed until last, staring at the Chief. She would take any consequences that he threw her way. But she vaguely wondered if he had ever suffered from consequences of his own actions; Rose had definitely suffered from consequences of his actions.

* * *

Prom.

That was the word that left Avery's friend's mouth. Prom. Prom. Prom.

Rose hated teenage girls when she WAS a teenage girl, she didn't even go to prom when she was in high school. She was the angry girl with the black clothes and the rebellious pink hair, she wouldn't be caught dead at prom. Now she had to go to prom and help organise one too. She rushed around the hospital in search for catering services.

Trying to read the menus and walk at the same time, Rose didn't look up as she turned a corner. She collided with a solid form and her menus fluttered to the ground as she staggered to stay on her feet.

"Sorry," she said quickly.

Dimitri reached out for her elbow, steadying her. His hand left her elbow and he stooped to pick up her menus. She crouched and together they made easy work of it.

"I'm guessing you heard what happened?" She asked when they were standing upright again, the menus securely back in her hands.

"I have, although I'm pretty sure you weren't the one who cut the wire"

She smiled at his faith in her. "I can't say anything."

Dimitri smiled warmly at her. "So," he began, his tone much lighter than before. "I hear you're planning a prom..."

She rolled her eyes and motioned towards the items in her hands. "We are; interesting punishment, huh? I'm in charge of ordering food. What kind of food do proms usually have?"

"I don't think it matters what you eat; it matters _who_ you go with."

"Well aren't you just full of help today," she giggled.

He grumbled under his breath.

She laughed. "What did you eat at your prom?"

"I didn't go to prom. Band geeks don't usually go to prom."

"You were a band geek?" She asked surprised. Dimitri the hottie mchotness... A band geek?

"Mmm-hmm." He nodded, "What did you have at your prom?"

"I didn't go either."

"Band geek, too?"

She snorted. "Hell, no. I did the rebellious thing. Wore a lot of black. Pink hair."

He raised an eyebrow. "Pink hair, huh?"

"Yup." She nodded, trying to look unfazed, even though she could feel heat rising in her cheeks.

Dimitri leaned in close to kiss her cheek. "I'm sure you looked adorable, even with the pink hair and rebellious thing going on."

She rolled her eyes. He suddenly went silent, just staring into her eyes. She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. His neutral face pulled into a smile, "Rose… Will you go to prom with me?"

She chuckled at his question, and gave him a light kiss, she turned to walk away, "No."

"No?" he asked shocked at her answer, she giggled at the expression as he stepped in front of her to keep her from moving away. He stepped closer to her, his scorching eyes making her heart flutter. "Just say yes," he whispered.

"Fine," she laughed, "Yes."

Their moment of laughter and craziness was interrupted by Eddie dragging Rose by her arm away from Dimitri,

"Bye!" she smiled, giving him a hearty wave before turning around before she fell to the ground walking backwards. She met Mason and Lissa standing at the nurses' station lined up in front of Alto.

"What's the problem? What? One of you better spit it out!" Alto demanded.

"The problem is the colour, and the balloons and the under the sea, hey lets do titanic, no lets do tears in heaven, no that's too morbid," Eddie mocked "It should be pink it should be red, a freaking rainbow"

"What he's trying to say is whether you can speak teenage girl?" Mason suggested.

"Do I look like a woman? Does it look like I care? This is you're problem! Deal with it!" Alto yelled. Storming away, he stops at the door to where the girls were and goes inside. The interns look at each other, following Alto into the room.

"Silver and White, it is mystical without going over the top, you see fashion week in New York? Lots of silver and white runways and backdrops, that's because no matter what colors they wear, they pop," Alto rambled. Both girls sitting on the chair stared wide eyed at the man suggesting themes and colors for the prom. It wasn't just the girls, the interns' jaw dropped at Alto's suggestions.

"Lissa, Christian is asking for you, Eddie and Mason go get 500 silver and white balloons, get 100 black, shiny not the matte, and Rose you're with Patricia, see if you can rope off the second floor nurses' station and the waiting area, got it?"

There was a moment of stunned silence, Rose just stared and stared at her resident, wondering what the hell just happened. Alto speaks teenage girl?

"Oh no, you can't look at me like that! This is your fault and you put my medical career on the line! I have a teenage daughter that I have to feed, go do you job!" Alto ordered.

When she was called into the small conference room, she was the last to be called in Abe was sitting on the far side, hands clasped in front of him, looking menacing and authoritative. A number of files were stacked beside him on the table, there was no doubt that there were the personal intern files.

Rose met his gaze as she shut the door behind herself and stepped across the room.

Sitting across from him, Rose linked her fingers together and averted her eyes, picking a spot on the wall to the side and staring. She would remain silent as long as he would. And there they sat for several minutes. Rose didn't move.

Finally, the Chief sat forward in his chair. "I've known you for a long time," he began, his tone even and controlled. "I knew your mother and father..."

Rose's fingers clenched together involuntarily. He, evidently, knew her mother very well.

"...And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you did not cut those L-VAD wires."

Rose continued to stare at her arbitrarily chosen spot on the wall.

"Rose, I need you to tell me who did."

Something inside of her snapped and she turned to him.

"I've been going over this and over this in my mind, trying to piece this together." She paused

"It was you," she accused. "You're the reason my parents broke up."

He slowly sat back in his chair, and his silence destroyed the smallest fragments of doubt still lingering in the back of her mind.

She ploughed onward with her accusations. "And it wasn't just an affair; she really loved you. It wasn't some cheap thing where she didn't tell you she was married. It wasn't all a lie. _She left her husband for you._"

Still, Abe said nothing.

"But you stayed with your wife, because it was the right thing to do...maybe safe, but she was the right person for you to be with. Let's face it...my mother? Nothing wrong with being safe, being with the good guy, because he's good. And we are talking about forever here." She sniffed and swallowed hard, fighting the stinging sensation behind her eyes.

"You've never regretted your decision," Rose continued. "You've never looked back, right?" She needed him to admit it. She needed him to look her in the eye and tell her he didn't hold any regrets; that he had forgiven himself for his callous actions. She needed to feel justified in hating him.

She stormed down the hallway swinging open Dimitri's office door, normally the door was locked but when Dimitri's was inside he didn't bother. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw his form on the office chair, his head on his arms. He was asleep. She tiptoed to the couch and dropped onto the soft fabric, she took off her shoes and pulled her legs up to her chest. She eventually dozed off into a world of oblivion.

When she awoke an hour later, he body tangled with the blanket that covered her body. Her legs were draped over his thighs.

"Morning sunshine," he greeted, giving her legs a gentle rub, "We have to go get ready, the chief has demanded everyone in the hospital to attend the prom, so no running."

"You already asked me to prom, so why tell me that?" she giggled.

"Coz I know you too well and I'm pretty sure you would not go, you would tempt me to have sex with you and then we'd end up not going," he laughed.

"Hmm," she smiled, lifting herself off the couch to kiss him, "You do know me well."

"Come on, I have to go to the trailer," he said, pushing her legs gently onto the floor.

"The trailer?" she asked. Why did he need to go the trailer? He practically lived at her house now, his stuff, his toothbrush, his aftershave were all at her place.

"I need a tux and most of that stuff is in the trailer…" he explained, "So… I'll come pick you up?"

"Mia and Mason are going home to get my dress, I can't leave the hospital," Rose informed.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I have to get this place ready, Alto's orders, Sorry…" she replied, nuzzling her face into his neck.

"Fine…" he grumbled, pulling her towards his body. The sat in silence for a few minutes before Rose stood up to leave.

"Go get your tux, I'll see you tonight," she smiled, pecking his lips and walking out the door.

* * *

The beginning of the prom finally came and a little birdy had told Rose that Dimitri had already arrived. She quickly threw on her dress that she wore only once before, and touched up on some make up. She stepped down the stairs holding up the length of her dress, her eyes caught on Dimitri who was standing at the drinks table. She glanced down at the steps as she stepped slightly on the hem of her dress. When she glanced back up Dimitri had disappeared, she turned to walk down the next set of steps but was stopped by Dimitri's solid form.

"Dimitri!" she gasped. When her surprise subsided she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're so beautiful…" he whispered seductively.

"Dimitri! Our hospital rules!" she exclaimed, they had developed a set of rules of no PDA when on duty.

"But none of us are working…" he grumbled, "Fine… Dance with me?"

He pulled her to the dance floor and she swayed back and forth in his arms, surprised by how strong a lead he was for a man who claimed not to dance, and raised a questioning eyebrow to him. He had told her he doesn't dance in public and yet he was such a good dancer.

"I dance only with one gorgeous lady," he smiled, reading her mind.

Rose felt her cheeks blush, and buried her face in the crook of his neck in an effort to hide it from him. She knew she had been unsuccessful, but he said nothing, only ran one hand up her back to rest between her shoulder blades.

The hospital prom was already proving to beat her expectations. The balloon and banners and array of other decorations were tasteful, and the music was not quite her taste, but pretty okay. The punch was terrible, but the food she had ordered was wonderful. And the fact that she could spend as much time as she wanted tucked up close to Dimitri or in his arms on the dance floor just made everything else pale in comparison.

Her body started burning, fuelled by every inch of contact between them. One of his strong hands left her back to brush a lock of hair out of her face. His rough fingertips left a tingling trail behind on her cheek as she shuddered under the assault of her arousal. She could feel his own arousal growing against her. "Dimitri..." She moaned his name before leaning in to press her lips against his.

She lost herself for several moments, fully supported by his strong arms. It wasn't until his tongue was darting against her lips that she remembered where they were. "Dimitri…" she said, breathless, "We're at prom," she finally managed.

Dimitri nodded, equally breathless. He said nothing, but his arms tightened around her as he continued to sway them back and forth. She could feel him breathing against her, fighting to keep his own desires in check.

Rose clutched at the coarse fabric of the back of his jacket, wanting nothing more than to pull it off of him and rub her fingers over the soft cotton of the white shirt he wore underneath. She wanted him now. She needed him now.

"Come on," she mumbled, breaking away from his grip and dragging him by the hand off the dance floor.

He released her hand, his coming to rest on her lower back as he kept himself close behind her. Rose paused at an intersection of hallways. They close to any of the on-call rooms. She pushed him into the closest exam room.

The moment the door had closed behind them, they hadnt even turned on the light and the pounced ,she turned to him and his lips were on hers. Her fingers made easy work of the few buttons along the front of his tux, and she pushed the jacket off, over his shoulders. He moaned into her mouth as her hands began to roam along his body, only separated by the thin fabric of his white shirt.

He pressed against her, and Rose found herself backing up until she met the exam table. It was only a moment before his hands shifted down to her hips and he lifted her to sit on the table. She hooked her legs around him and let her hands travel down to buckle of his belt.

His lips left hers to work down her neck to her chest, his finger pulling at the fabric of her dress. He ground against her and she moaned, returning to her task of undoing his belt. Once his trousers were out of the way, she shifted on the table, helping him to remove her panties. He gently pushed her against the table, making her lie down on the small exam table.

He kept his eyes trained on hers as he slowly lowered himself into her, feeling her walls envelope him as she arched her back into his body. She gasped slightly as he filled her as far as he could, and he stayed still inside of her.

After a long moment, he swallowed hard and lifted himself up onto his forearms, meeting her eyes again as he slowly moved his hips, pulling out of her before he moved back in. He picked up in speed, now thrusting harder and harder into her, making her writhe under him. She continued to kiss his shoulders, as she was overcome in complete pleasure.

When they were finished, Rose sat gasping on the table, her arms and legs still around him, holding him close. He panted against her, his hands resting along her spine.

"We broke our own rules," She said lightly, as he helped her get her dress back on. Their eyes never left each other as they slipped their clothes back on.

"Have you seen my panties? They're black…" she asked him, turning back and forth in search for her panties, "Help me look for them! And fix your tie!"

The slamming of the door knocked the couple out of their post sex trance, revealing the silhouette of Jill at the door. Dimitri quickly turned around to zip up his fly and Rose's eyes adjusted to the light that radiated from the open door.

"Rose, you need to come with me it's Mia," Jill said, stepping out of the room. Rose glanced over at Dimitri who gave her a soft nod. She followed Jill into Aaron's room, Mia's arms wrapped around his pale body as she sobbed.

"Oh Mia…" she said sympathetically. Realising what had happened to Aaron.

"I think it was a stroke…" Mia began, "He was prone to blood clots, a clot could have formed on his sutures, travelled to his brain, it will only take a second, I'm a doctor and I don't know why I didn't think of blood clots."

"There was nothing that you could have done…" Mason said.

"I changed my dress three times, I would have been here sooner, but I couldn't figure out what dress to wear," Mia cried.

"Mia, we shouldn't be in here…" Mason told her softly.

"They need to… they need to move him…" Rose spoke up.

"To the morgue…" Mia whispered, "Can you all get out please? I want to be alone with Aaron..."

"Mia, that's not Aaron…" Eddie said from behind Rose.

"Shut up!" she yelled.

"Mia, the minute Aaron's heart stopped beating he isn't Aaron anymore, I know you love him and he obviously loved you too, but he wouldn't want you to do this to yourself…" Eddie said.

"An hour ago he was proposing, now he's going to the morgue… isn't that just ridiculous? Isn't that the biggest load of crap you have ever heard?" Mia sobbed, she buried her face into the crook of Aaron's neck. Eddie wrapped his arms under Mia and lifted her gently off the bed, he carried her bridal style to the chairs behind him and he sat down, letting Mia cry onto his shoulder.

Rose's heart broke as she watched her friend cry over the man she loved, she couldn't help to imagine herself in that situation and Dimitri lay dead cold on the bed. Tears formed in her eyes, and she hurried out of the room to regain her composure, she needed to be the strong one for Mia.

* * *

Dimitri made his way back to the prom, spotting Tasha alone at the punch table. Many of the hospital staff at the party had left, leaving a few dancers on the floor. Dimitri exchanged a kind greeting to his ex-wife, feeling sorry for her dateless night.

Dimitri caught sight of Abe and Alto across the room, motioning for him to come over. He felt his heart constrict suddenly, realizing that something was very wrong.

He quickly made his way across the floor, Tasha right behind him. "Chief," he greeted questioningly. "What's going on?" He shifted his gaze between Abe and Alto. They both knew something he did not. There was sadness in Alto's eyes.

"Do you know where any of Alto's interns are?" Abe asked quietly.

Dimitri shook his head. "No..."

"I'm looking for Mia Rinaldi in particular," he said softly.

"Chief." Alto said suddenly, his body shift to turn to follow Alto's gaze. Mia walked slowly towards them, her pink dress dragging along the floor. Mason and Eddie tailed not far behind,

Rose trailed the three of them, her eyes bloodshot with unshed tears. He didn't have to ask to know what had happened.

Mia barely glanced at them as she walked past, the boys not making a move to stop either. Rose caught his gaze and hesitated, her steps wobbly as she fought to decide whether to go to him for comfort or keep up with her friend.

Mia paused after she had passed them, and turned back, her large, expressive eyes filled with tears. "It was me," she practically whispered. "I cut his L-VAD wire. I did it; no one helped me," she admitted to the Chief. "And now... I thought I was a surgeon, but..." She trailed off as the tears began to trail down her cheeks. "I can't. I thought I was a surgeon, but I am not." She paused for a breath. "So, I quit."

Mason and Eddie turned to follow her, but Rose stood, frozen, watching her roommate walk away. With tears stinging the backs of his eyes with surprising force, Dimitri stepped forward to wrap his arms around his trembling girlfriend.

"Dimitri, promise me something," she whispered, pulling away to look directly into his eyes.

"Anything," he said, kissing the top of her forehead.

"Promise me you won't ever die."

* * *

**A/N - Enjoy your holidays... Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you all in the new year!  
**


	17. Don't Ever Die

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N - I'm back... LOL  
**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Rose stood in the middle of the hallway, she had been shoved awake by Mason at 5am in the morning, informing her that Mia had hidden herself in the bathroom all night. She watched as her friends tried to open the locked door and attempt to convince Mia to come out of the bathroom.

"Mia… Mia, come on…" Eddie encouraged. He leaned against the doorframe, sighing as he realised that there was no sign that she was coming out anytime soon.

"This can't go on, she has been in there the whole night…"

"Yeah…" Eddie agreed, turning to Rose.

"Yeah…" Lissa echoed, glancing over into Rose's direction.

She stared at her friends, still looking at her with a look of _what are you going to do? _"Why are you all looking at me?"

"Well this is familiar territory for you…" Lissa replied, nudging her head towards the door.

"There is nothing familiar about this! Unfamiliar! Aaron died! The man she loved died!"

"Yeah but you're all dark and twisty inside…" Lissa said.

Rose crinkled her face in confusion "Dark and twisty?"

"You know the whole mother with the Alzheimer's thing and the father you don't talk to thing" Lissa listed.

"Oh and the tequila thing and the inappropriate men thing" Eddie added.

"Well your dark and twisty inside, Rose and now so is Mia" Mason interjected.

"Let me inform you that I have a boyfriend asleep inside that room behind you and he makes me happy!" Rose hissed, "And not dark and twisty!"

"Oh don't kid yourself, you're nowhere near bright and shiny!" Eddie snickered. They all turned back to the closed bathroom door. Waiting for the right moment to go in there.

* * *

Rose spent majority of the morning confined in the kitchen, Dimitri had been called to the hospital shortly after Mason had gone inside the bathroom, coming out alone. Then Mason was called minutes later. Now she was alone with Lissa.

She spread the peanut butter over the bread laid out on the island. She stuffed a second slice of bread on top and cut the sandwich in half before chomping down on it. Before she finished she prepared the table for a second sandwich.

"Why are we making sandwiches again?" Lissa asked curiously.

"It's what you do when someone dies… you cook" Rose replied with a full mouth.

"That's not cooking!" Lissa laughed, "Are you like holding a Shiva or something?"

"Is it Shiva even if she's catholic?" Rose questioned.

"I don't know?" Lissa replied uncertainly, "Besides if we are cooking for Aaron then we should order in. Sandwiches are not cooking."

"It's comfort food" Rose argued, shoving the second sandwich into her mouth. Her stomach grumbled in hunger despite her first sandwich.

The doorbell interrupted Rose's eating session and she rushed out to the front door. Jill stood on the other side, two paper bags of food filled to the brim.

"I brought food" Jill said emotionlessly.

"Uh… Mason isn't here…" Rose told Jill with intense curiosity.

"No, I know" Jill replied, her face scrunching to Rose's words, "He's in quarantine because of a thing, and I'm off duty and I got worried about him and I thought about Mia and so I brought food"

"For the Shiva?"

"Are you going to let me in?"

"Oh yeah!" Rose replied quickly, opening the door. She was still reeling in shock by Jill presence at the house.

"Shiva? Is it Shiva if Mia's catholic?" Jill asked on her way into the kitchen.

* * *

"I don't know what to say to you..." Rose whispered, lying on the floor beside her roommate. She had long since given up trying to get Mia off the floor. But every time she lay down beside her, her heart went out to the broken woman. She just didn't know what to do or say to make it any better. If it had been Dimitri who had died, and Rose who was on the floor, she doubted there would be anything anyone could say or do to make it any better.

"I don't know what to say to me either," Mia responded, her tone flat and low. At least she was speaking now. Only a handful of words had escaped her lips after she had laid herself down so many hours before. "When Dylan died...when the bomb went off...how did you feel?"

Rose sighed, the memory of that horrible day only a little more than a month before rushing back. "It's not the same. We weren't...he wasn't..." _Like Dimitri and I._ If it had been Dimitri, she was pretty sure she would still be on the bathroom floor, unable to function. She forced her thoughts away from that area. Dimitri would be fine.

Mia ploughed on. "But...when he died, did you feel...?"

"What?"

"Like you were moving in slow motion?"

Rose breathed. "No. He was there, and then he wasn't; like I blinked and he was gone..."

Mia shuddered. "I feel like I'm moving in slow motion. Like I'm moving in slow motion and everything around me is moving so fast, and I just want to go back to when things were normal... When I wasn't poor Mia lying on the bathroom floor in her prom dress and her dead fiancé… but I am, so I can't and I'm just stuck and there is all this pressure from everyone hovering around me waiting for me to crack, flip out or say something that will bring me to tears and I am happy to play my part, I'm happy to say the lines and do what I'm supposed to do if it will make everyone feel more comfortable but I don't know how to do this! I don't know how to be this person!"

"Mia…" Rose whispered sympathetically at her friend's moment of emotional downfall.

"How did this happen? How did we end up here? Why am I alone? Where's Aaron?" Mia cried softly. Rose reached up to take her friend's hand, offering her support.

"Mia… You are not alone…" Rose supported.

They lay there together on the floor in silence for what must have been hours because when Rose walked back down to the kitchen the outside world had been plunged into darkness. The front door opened and Jill rushed outside embracing Mason into a tight hug. Rose stayed in the kitchen, snatching food that Jill had made off the table. A warm hand slid along her waist and she jumped in surprise. The smell of his aftershave calmed her nerves as she recognised the scent. She turned in his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him in for a kiss.

"I heard about the quarantine… Thank god you're alright." She smiled, pulling him in for a tighter hug.

* * *

The morning rolled over quickly and the alarm alerted Rose to the inevitable truth of having to return to work. She reaches over to his side of the bed and is met with a cold chill from the emptiness. She groaned and slid her hand across his pillow meeting the crinkles of paper sitting on the top.

She smiled at his messy hand writing, she pulled the robe off the chair and padded into the bathroom to get ready. When she was finally done, she made her way down into the kitchen, where her senses were overloaded with the aroma of the cooking in the kitchen.

Dimitri and Mia were sharing the tight space of the kitchen, he stood at the island while Mia took out her latest batch of muffins out of the oven.

She could hear the quiet banter between the two.

"You used all the flour!" Dimitri exclaimed in a soft tone.

"Then go make something else!" Mia said, pushing him out of the kitchen. He grumbled and stomped out of the kitchen. His quick pace didn't allow Rose enough time to get away from the door in time, the door swung open and knocked Rose on the cheek. Dimitri jumped in shock and pulled her away from the door. Her hand quickly covered her throbbing cheek bone.

"Oh crap! Sorry Roza!" Dimitri exclaimed, lifting her hand off her cheek and giving it a slight kiss, "Better?"

His smile almost made her melt to her feet and she nodded in satisfaction.

"Come on, let's get breakfast elsewhere…" Dimitri suggested leading her out the door. They drove to the coffee shop down the road from the hospital and ate breakfast. Soon after they left the coffee shop, the sound of his pager broke their conversation.

"Mmm… Trauma… Sorry," he grumbled, pecking her cheeks. She nodded and let him go, he dashed towards the hospital leaving her with the car.

* * *

In the hospital, Lissa shoved 20 dollars into the hands of the nurse. She slipped into the Christian's room, giving him a sly smile. He glanced back curiously, as she shut the door and locked it. She swiftly pulled on the blinds to close them, taking off her lab coat. She shimmied out of her scrub pants and walked over to his bedside.

"What are you doing?" Christian said softly as she climbed into the bed and began straddling him.

"Just because you can't touch…" she began, slipping her tee overhead, leaving her clad in a lacy bra and underwear, "Doesn't mean you can't enjoy"

She leaned in for a kiss, he gave a slight giggle and was about to kiss her back, when the door opened suddenly. He turned to see who had come in and was shocked.

"Mum!" he exclaimed in surprise, "Dad!"

"Mum? Dad?" Lissa yelped, climbing off his lap pulling the blanket with her to cover her body.

"Is this a new service the hospital providing?" Christian's mother asks. Lissa glanced at Christian who sat back on the bed in shame. Lissa rushed over to where her clothes were and hid in the bathroom. She wanted blood. That nurse was supposed to guard the door! She stormed out of the bathroom and into the lobby in search for the nurse.

When she finally found him, "You were supposed to guard the door!" she shouted.

"I'm sorry! I had a code blue," the nurse explained.

"I had parents walk in!" Lissa yelled.

"We saved the guy's life!" the nurse shot back.

"You know what? I want my 20 bucks back!" Lissa scoffed

"No! I'm buying everyone coffee! To celebrate saving the guy's life!" the nurse replied, taking the chart and walking away.

"I want my 20 bucks back!" she shouted at him again.

"It's not Tyler's fault you're a dirty dirty stripper" Rose laughed, overhearing the conversation.

"You heard?" Lissa moaned, dropping her head into her hands.

"Everyone heard…" Rose informed, "Stripper"

"Rounds people or are you too busy getting naked?" Alto interrupted as he walked past.

"I was not naked!" Lissa exclaimed chasing after Alto's receding form.

Alto's interns gathered behind and trailed behind their resident into the patient's room.

"Good morning everybody!" Dimitri greeted entering the room. Taking his place next to Rose.

"Doesn't feel like a good morning to me… I have to have brain surgery today and that's scary and plus my sister is nervous, when she gets nervous she sweats and the windows in here don't open so it's pretty rank"

"Benjamin." The patient's sister scolded.

"Was I rude?" the patient asked.

"Let the doctors talk"

"Benjamin Olerry, in for a tumour removal on the frontal temporal lobe, clearly its affecting his impulse control" Lissa presented.

"It makes me say everything I think, which apparently is annoying. Am I annoying you?" Benjamin asked Lissa.

"No, It's fine…"

"You can't say it's fine if he is actually annoying you, he doesn't perceive sarcasm or irony." The sister informed.

"Okay Mr. Olerry, Dr. Dragomir will prep you for surgery… Do you have any questions?" Dimitri questioned.

"Is that brunette you're girlfriend? Because the way you keep looking at her, you may as well mount her here and now"

Snickers erupted from around the room, and Dimitri gave his patient an awkward smile before clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry, Was I rude?" The patient apologised emotionlessly.

* * *

The group of interns stepped out of the room, still reeling at the awkward tension of the statement from the patient.

"I'm proud of you all, you make me proud, you reflect on me well," Stan spat sarcastically, "Hathaway, if you can keep your clothes on long enough to follow up the labs, Castile cover the pit,"

"Wait… I'm off gynie?" Eddie exclaimed in delight.

"Tasha is off sick, you can cover the pit…" he trailed off, his eyes darted towards the notice board, "or you can tell me WHO'S DAMN PANTIES ARE ON THE BULLETIN BOARD!"

Rose froze on the spot, after the prom she still hadn't found her panties, and she prayed to god that the panties weren't hers. She turned around quickly spotting the black panties pinned to the bulletin board. She automatically stiffened at the sight of her panties displayed on the board behind the nurses' station, her property being displayed to the entire hospital.

"Are they yours?" Lissa asked, noticing the rigid posture of her friend at the unfolding events.

"This is a hospital! Serious work happens here! We save lives here!" Alto lectured, he turned to his interns Eddie and Mason who were snickering, "Is something funny? Who's are these?"

"This is bad, this is not good…" Rose whispered to herself.

"You'd better claim them, she thinks their mine!" Lissa scolded under her breath.

"Yeah I know it's one of you, it's always one of mine. Always." Alto said aggressively, "So? Which one of you left your damn panties on my surgical floor?!"

Jill was starting to feel the tension, and Rose's hidden form behind Lissa and stepped up.

"Oh no, did I leave my underwear lying around again? So sorry Alto… My bad," walking over to take the underwear down from the board, and tucking it into her lab coat pocket.

Alto turned around in shock at Jill's admittance, Mason's eyes grew even wider than before.

"I hope I trust setting you guys loose in this hospital," Alto said angrily to his interns, shoving charts into the hands on Rose. He scoffed and walked away.

"Holy crap the Nazi is definitely back," Lissa exclaimed to Eddie.

"Louder than ever…" Eddie replied splitting from Lissa towards the pit. Lissa turned the corner and bumped straight into Christian's mother.

"Oh! Mrs. Ozera" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Did I just hear you refer to Stan Alto as a Nazi?" Mrs. Ozera questioned.

"What? No! I mean yes…"

"You do understand that the Nazi's were responsible for the worst genocide in history of man. And a racist genocide at that, and as a woman of such gentle eyes I would have thought that you would have thought twice as using that word as a punch-line"

Lissa was speechless, she figured what was the point in arguing, "I- will keep that in mind, Mrs. Ozera"

"Mrs. Ozera?" said a sudden voice, Lissa quickly identified it as Dimitri's "Christian's mother?"

"Yes!" Lissa squealed in delight as their awkward conversation was interrupted.

"And you are?" Mrs. Ozera asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dimitri Belikov," he answered, extending his hand, "I'm the surgeon who operated on your son"

"Oh Thank you! Brilliant surgeon! And a handsome man too, your mother must be very proud, do you mind Dr. Belikov that I take your intern for a quick cup of coffee? I'll bring her right back."

"Oh no! Not a problem, Dr. Hathaway can cover for Lissa," Dimitri smiled, patting Lissa on the back.

"I'm sorry?" Rose interjected overhearing her name being called.

"Dr. Hathaway is really busy, she has charts to do for Dr. Alto, he's on a warpath…" Lissa interrupted quickly, trying to wedge her way out of the situation. "Not the German warpath" she corrected suddenly, "The hospital warpath"

"I'll take care of Alto, you two enjoy your coffee date ladies," Dimitri grinned, finally getting Rose on his service, "Very nice meeting you."

"I… um… just have this quick thing…" Lissa rattled, "I... will meet you at the cafeteria in a couple of minutes, is that alright?"

"Yes! Yes… I look forward to it!" Mrs. Ozera replied. Lissa mustered up the best smile she could and turned to beg Christian to save her ass.

* * *

"This is new, not the elevator but…" He smiled, closing the stairwell door.

"Stop!" she giggled, "This is not funny!" she exclaimed to herself refraining from laughing, "My panties were on the freaking bulletin board!"

"On the bulletin board?" he asked confusedly.

"ON THE BULLETIN BOARD!" she shouted.

"Oh…" he said, before erupting into a large fit of laughter.

"No sex in the hospital, that was the rule! And you broke it!" she yelled at him, slapping his shoulder.

"Me? Sex is a two person job!" he chuckled, pulling on a sly smile.

Her heart instantly melted and wanted to tackle his lips, ravage them on the spot. He leaned in closer, sensing her arousal from his smile.

Their lips were about to meet and suddenly the door opened. Jill walked in, and stopped as she realised what the couple in front of her were about to do. She pulled the panties out of her front pocket and put them into Rose's hands.

"You guys should think about getting a hotel room or something," Jill snickered, leaving the couple in the stairwell.

"Ow!" the patient yelped as Rose inserted the needle into her impulsive patient, "You're very pretty, but you look kinda tired, I think you need to change your hair conditioner"

"Benjamin that was rude," his sister scolded.

"No! That's okay, it's refreshing," she smiled.

"Did you have sex with that brain surgeon?"

"Benjamin!" his sister scolded again.

"No, It's okay, Nope! I haven't, not today anyway"

"I would… He's hot… I would totally have sex with him if I could, looked like you could so what's the hold up?"

Rose smiled but didn't answer, she wrote down the notes of the patient's condition and escaped from the room. The hours that passed through the rest of the day was slow. Not just slow… It was glacial slow… scratch that it was not moving at all. Her impulsive guy died, brain swelled so much that his heart stopped.

She wanted to go home to check on Mia, worried about her excessive baking, after Mason had come back from visiting her with a bag full of muffins.

When her shift finally ended, she rushed out of the hospital and into her car. The ride home was fast, when she got there a mystery car sat in the driveway. She curiously glanced over into the driver's seat only to find it empty. She opened the door and heard soft voices coming from the kitchen. Alto was inside.

"That's enough Mia" Alto said softly, prying the wooden spoon out of the hands of the crying Mia. She climbed the staircase, feeling the desire to curl up in the covers hiding her fear of waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was like a common ritual, once her rollercoaster life climbs to the top, the freefall drop was waiting on the otherside.

* * *

It was dark out and it had been a long, hard day, all he wanted to do was snuggle up with his girlfriend in their king size bed and since Dimitri had expected to be home hours earlier, his wish to cuddle Rose was intensifying.

Padding carefully across the nearly silent room, he came up behind her, not pausing for a moment to wrap his arms around her small frame, pulling her back into his chest and burying his nose in her hair.

Her breath caught and damp hands left the sink to clutch onto his. "Dimitri..." She murmured.

He tightened his hold, stretching his arms as far around her waist as he could, trying to mould his body to hers. "I missed you," he whispered.

And suddenly she was crying. Gut wrenching sobs escaped her lips as her chest heaved within his arms. She turned in his embrace, her hands reaching over his shoulders to hook behind his neck so tight that he thought she may never let go.

Re-closing his arms around her in their new position, Dimitri buried his face against her shoulder and promised himself he would never let her go, that he would never push her away. He loved her. He needed her. He couldn't live without her.

"Oh, Roza..." he breathed.

"And you...you..."

"I'm fine, Roza."

She shook her head. "No. No. You spent all yesterday in quarantine. You and Mason..."

"We're fine-"

"No!" She cried. "No. I can't... I...nothing else can change. I can't lose you, Dimitri. I can't-"

"Rose!" He called firmly, breathing in relief when he finally got her attention. She blinked at him, but made no attempt to speak. Brushing his fingers across her face, he cleared the hair from her eyes so he could meet them evenly. "I am fine," he repeated once more. "Mason is fine. We were protected by masks and gloves in a very sterile area. And they kept us in quarantine as a precaution. And now we're out, because we're fine." He paused for a moment to let the words sink in. "And we're going to stay fine, okay?"

She swallowed, and breathing hard in his arms, nodded. He was worried about her repeated reaction, yesterday was the same reaction.

He offered her a small smile and pressed his lips against her nose. "Okay."

Still breathing hard as the adrenaline began to wear off, she bowed her head and leaned her forehead against his chin, trembling slightly. "I can't lose you," she whispered into his neck.

He pressed his hands against her back. "You won't," he promised. "I'm not going anywhere. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

"Good."

"Good," he echoed.

They fell into a comfortable silence for several minutes as Rose's breathing slowly came back down to normal and her body stopped shaking.

"I love you, Dimitri," she finally whispered.

"I love you too, Roza." He allowed himself a small smile, reveling in her closeness.


	18. Ice Chips

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Rose awoke to the nauseating feeling as her stomach flipped and did tumble turns in her body. She had a twinge in her stomach all day during her previous shift and now the pain increase ten-fold. She turned to the side hoping to alleviate the feeling, her arm fell over Dimitri's warm body. She could feel his warm breath gently touch her nose, it was even, so he was still asleep. Despite the shift in position, the nausea would not subside. A sharp pain rocked her abdomen as Dimitri moved in the bed causing the mattress the dip at another angle. She winced loudly and shocked Dimitri enough to jolt awake and slam his head into hers.

"Ow!" she cried, raising her hand to rub the sore spot. He did the same and smiled.

"You okay?" he asked, lifting her hand away from the spot and gave it a firm kiss.

"Mmm" was all she could muster out of her mouth as he leaned into her for a kiss. The kiss made the nausea momentarily disappear, she moaned against his lips. Their moment was interrupted by the sound the alarm wailing on the table beside them. She pulled back and dropped her head onto his chest.

She reluctantly pulled herself off his warm body, and straddled him to get to the other side of the bed. She giggled as he moaned to her actions.

"You shouldn't do that Roza…" he grumbled. She leaned down to give him a soft peck and swung her leg off the bed. She padded to the bathroom, and splashed her face with the icy water. She glanced at herself in the mirror, she looked pale, like death. The nausea that she had earlier had dulled down to the feeling of dread.

When she was finally done, she stepped out of the bathroom to the sounds of even breathing, Dimitri had fallen back asleep. He didn't have to be in the hospital till late morning, so she tiptoed out of the room. She and her fellow roommates drove into the hospital quietly, all too tired to speak.

They reached their locker room, where the hustle of the morning began. Everyone was late, and rushing to get ready so they can avoid the dread of being assigned on scut. Rose dropped to the seat on the bench sitting between the lockers. The nausea returned, she pulled out a bottle of strawberry milk and took a sip.

"You feeling okay?" Mason asked worriedly as he saw the grimace that she made as she took a sip.

"Yeah, I'm just not feeling like myself…" she replied.

"Mason has that effect on people," Eddie teased.

Rose stumbled out of the locker room to follow her resident around the floor for rounds.

"You okay Dr. Hathaway?" Alto asked. Noticing Rose clutch her stomach.

"Yeah Dr. Alto…" she mumbled, turning to sit on the arm rest of the chair, "I just…"

She turned to look at her left, as she saw a glimpse of Dimitri walking through the hallways. He approached her with a smile.

"Dr. Hathaway… I am clipping a basilar aneurysm, any interest?" Dimitri offered, she looked up to meet his gaze. She felt too sick to even reply.

"Oh. My. God." Tasha yelped from behind, her words caught everyone's attention and followed Tasha's gaze to the man on the other side of the window.

"Oh. My. God." Dimitri repeated, as he noticed the man shaking one of the board member's hands.

"Oh my god," Rose mumbled, brushing the hair out of her face.

"Is that?" Mason asked.

"McSteamy…" Lissa finished with a giggle. Rose couldn't hold it in any longer and expelled the contents of her stomach onto the floor beside Dimitri's feet.

"Hathaway! What?" Alto asked.

"No! Mr. Sullivan don't light that!" Mason yelled as he realised that his patient on pure oxygen was lighting a cigarette. But the patient lit it anyway, the flame exploded in the patients face and the alarm was immediately set off. Alto jumped and called the code. Mason and Eddie rushed into the room at aid the patient.

While the patient was being tended to Rose continued to empty her stomach. When she finally stopped retching she stood, only to be intercepted by Dimitri's hovering form.

"You're burning up…" Dimitri said, placing his hand on her forehead.

"I'm fine…" she muttered, grabbing the cup of water Lissa had just gotten her.

"You don't look fine… You look beautiful, but you don't look fine…" he replied with a smile.

"Now I'm going to throw up" Lissa muttered under her breath.

"Go… you have aneurysms to clip…" she told him, "and surgeons to confront," she added as she saw the Chief and Adrian walk past.

"Are you going to be alright?" he asked, before looking at Lissa "Will you look after her please?"

"Mhm" she grumbled.

They watched Dimitri approach the two men, soon after the Chief walked away and up the stairs, Dimitri followed him up, shouting 'Chief'

A few seconds later, Tasha walked up to Adrian and they began arguing quietly.

"I'm so glad I'm not missing this!" Lissa giggled as the show continued. Rose couldn't even look up as another wave of nausea hit her. She stumbled to find the nearest garbage bin, and threw up in it.

"Holy Crap! Are you pregnant?" Lissa exclaimed a little too loud. Rose coughed the rest of her bile into the bin. Dimitri glanced over the railing of the second floor to see what was going on. He rushed down the stairs and towards his sick girlfriend.

* * *

"So… You're pregnant?" Lissa asked as they got settled into the exam room.

"I'm NOT pregnant," Rose slurred.

"I didn't know I was pregnant till I was either…" Lissa laughed, "The abdominal pain, fever, non-stop vomiting? You're pregnant."

The sound of the door being open exposed Dimitri walking into the room.

"Hey… how you feeling?" he questioned, brushing a stray strand out of her face.

"I'm not pregnant!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, don't worry, we'll find out what's wrong." He assured.

"She's not pregnant" Alto announced as he came into the room, "We'll have to run more tests"

"In that case, can I have some morphine?" Dimitri and Lissa glanced at each other, amused at Rose's request, she was going to be high as a kite and it was going to be a very entertaining day.

"I'll stay with her today, I have to do some charting anyway," Lissa offered. Dimitri gave a soft nod and pressed a light kiss onto Rose's heated forehead.

"I love you, I'll be back soon okay?" he whispered.

Rose replied with an incoherent grumble of pain and gave him a small kiss on the lips. Lissa injected the morphine into her IV drip and watched the look of pain on her friends face drift away into an expression of bliss.

"You're a good friend." Rose began a few moments later.

"You're so high right now…" Lissa laughed, as she wrote the notes for the chart in her hands.

"Actually you are the best friend in the whole entire world!" Rose exclaimed, flailing her arms in the air to show how big the world was.

"Now I feel sorry for you…" Lissa giggled at her friend's actions.

"Why?" she slurred "Because I could die today?"

"This is why I hate being around stoned people," Lissa complained.

"Dr. Hathaway! You have a fever, high white count and tenderness over McBurney's point, what does that suggest?"

"Appendicitis" Mason and Lissa said quickly, while Rose garbled the word.

"Correct. Dr. Ashford prep her for surgery, you're scrubbing in,"

"I'm scrubbing in on her appendectomy?" Mason asked surprised.

"I um… am I the only one who remembers the last time Mason scrubbed in on an appy he almost killed the guy? Sorry Mason," Rose said, sounding stoned.

"It's okay I don't have to scrub…" Mason stopped mid-sentence because of the death glare that Alto was giving him, "unless you want me to… okay it won't happen again."

"Is that okay with you Dr. Hathaway?" Alto questioned.

"You're handsome…" she giggled at Alto. Alto rolled his eyes at his intern and left the room.

"Mason! Ice chips!" she demanded as Mason, nodding her head quickly.

Dimitri stood leaning on the doorframe

"Hmm, you complexion is flushed…" Dimitri said dreamily, "Are you happy you have a boyfriend who works at a hospital?"

"Mmm" she grumbled.

"Okay Dr. Belikov you can't be here now… Go you have brains to cut into" Alto commanded

The corner of his lips twitched at her words and he leaned down to kiss her. "I'll be there when you wake up."

She nodded. "I know."

He kissed her again. "I love you."

Alto gave him a stern look and Dimitri's eyes widened, and he walked away.

After they prepped her for surgery she was alone again, alone… alone… alone… she repeated to herself.

"Tasha!" she yelled, as she noticed Tasha walk past her room, "Dr. Tasha Ozera!"

"You bellowed, Dr. Hathaway?" Tasha said her tone laced with annoyance.

"Hi," Rose replied.

"You definitely are aren't you?" Tasha replied, looking Rose's chart wondering why she would be high despite being rumored to be pregnant, "and not pregnant…" after reading the chart.

"Nope," Rose replied popping the 'p', Tasha stared at Rose for a long moment in silence until Rose spoke up "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Tasha replied quickly, giving her the best smile she could muster with the day she had, "How are you?"

"I don't know how I am…" Rose replied.

"Okay well good luck with the surgery," Tasha replied, stepping out of the room.

"Tasha!" Rose called again,

"What is it this time?" Tasha asked annoyed.

"How did you know he was the one?" Rose questioned suddenly. Tasha was knocked back slightly at Rose's question.

"I…" Tasha began hesitantly, "I just knew… I knew that he would never hurt me, he's just that kind of guy."

"He hurt me…" Rose replied softly, "When he didn't tell me about you, and when he almost chose you over me"

"I should have let him go… I knew the marriage was damaged beyond repair and yet I pursued the salvation of our marriage,"

"How come we never talked like this before?"

"The only reason why I'm talking to you like this is because I know you won't remember a thing when you get out of surgery."

Tasha left the room, putting Rose's chart down at the nurses' station.

"Oh, and doctor Ozera," Rose called after her. "If you see Mason, will you remind him about my ice chips?"

* * *

"Oh oh! On the table keep me drapped! Too many people have seen me naked, I'd like to keep whatever dignity I have left!" Rose told Mason, pushing her gurney towards the ORs. She sat up a little and noticed Adrian walking up the desk, "Ooo McSteamy, MCSTEAMY WOOHOO!"

"Is that what you're calling me now? McSteamy?" Adrian smirked walking up to Rose.

"Yeah, but I don't think you were supposed to know that!" she smiled.

"How is my favorite dirty mistress?" Adrian laughed.

"I'm not a dirty mistress!" she laughed, nudging him lightly.

"Well I'm going to go because your boyfriend is about to come here and wish you well so… good luck" he said, taking her hand and giving it a rub of support before disappearing around the corner.

* * *

She awoke to the sounds of the conversing of Dimitri and Lissa, they stood at the end of the bed laughing over something.

"Morning!" Lissa giggled, turning to look at Rose.

"Why is everyone laughing?" Rose asked deliriously. Dimitri stepped to the side of her bed and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Oh nothing!" Lissa replied unconvincingly.

"Alright how badly did I embarrass myself under morphine?" Rose questioned sending glares to Dimitri who was obviously trying hard to hold back laughter, "Oh god… What did I do?"

"Seriously everything is fine… although I think Alto was a little flushed when you complimented him," Lissa laughed.

Rose was speechless, who knows what she could have done under all that morphine, she stared at her friends in shock. She hoped to hell that she didn't embarrass herself any further.

"Alright everybody! Visiting hours is over so leave!" Alto commanded as he ushered everyone out of the room, "You too Belikov."

"I'm staying tonight," Dimitri spoke up bravely, Alto stared at the man sitting on the edge of her bed, before shaking his head in defeat and left the couple alone.

He climbed into the tiny bed with her. He slipped his legs under the covers and tucked her body into his. She nuzzled her head into his neck and the strong sense of lavender made its way to the receptors in his nose. He wrapped his arms around her body gently, avoiding her from moving too much or she'd tear the stitches.

They stayed the way they were for hours until both of them drifted off into a deep sleep, away from reality.

* * *

**A/N - Short chapter... Sorry... **


	19. (Extra)Ordinary

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

'Finally' was the first word that rocked Rose's mind early that morning, she had been on a 36 hour shift with no breaks in between. She was paged here and there, and never got the chance to sit down. She was pulled into emergency surgery, paged to the pit, everything you can name she had done in just 36 hours. The morning had finally rolled over, signaling the end of her super long shift. She desperately wanted to leave and curl up in Dimitri's arms, snuggling into his warm muscular body.

She trudged tiredly to her car, and drove up to the trailer where she knew he'd be after he told her that he wanted to spend his morning off, fishing for fish in his apparent fish filled fish lake. She finally made it over the ferry and onto his land.

"Ah the serenity…" she whispered to herself getting out of the car, breathing in the aromatic scent of wet grass and morning dew. She climbed the small hill below the trailer and landed on the porch. There was warmth radiating from the trailer walls. _Mmm… He just had a shower… _

The thought of Dimitri naked brought her face into a smile. She rushed in already feeling the fatigue fall away. She climbed the few steps into the trailer and looked towards Dimitri who was only wrapped in a towel. Water dripped from his head, the drops landing softly onto his bold shoulders.

"Hi, that was a…" she trailed off as she eyed the woman in his bed.

She looked back at him and he stared at her in shock, "Roza!"

"I…" she began, but no words formed in her mouth.

"N…n…n…" Rose gaped in shock and rushed out the door, "Rose! Wait! Let me explain! Rose!"

Her mind suddenly went blank, she couldn't think. She heard the faintest sound of her name being called, but her body pushed her to keep going.

She jumped into the driver's seat of her Jeep and drove. Midway through the drive the sharp shriek of her pager reverberated across the inner walls of her car. She glanced at the small screen of her pager, she sighed as the pager called her back to hospital. She was distracted the entire surgery, who was that woman? Why would he do that to me? After all that effort and regaining her trust in him, he blew it… AGAIN! She dove into her work, hiding in the basement charting, avoiding Dimitri. She knew he was looking for her, she looked at her phone, _29 missed calls_. Without realising she drifted asleep onto the pile of charts on the basement gurney.

The loud shrill of the pager awoke her from her light slumber, that pager was really starting to get on her nerves. Her hands wanted to grab a hold of the pager and launch it across the room. She made her way towards the location at where her pager told her to go. She noticed Mia and Alto standing at the nurses' station.

"You paged?" Rose announced, as she stepped beside Mia. Rose was relieved that Mia had decided to come back to work even under probation, her days baking took a sudden stop after Alto had paid their grieving friend visit, offering her a second chance.

"Yes, I did, you are now the boss of Mia, she is to observe, she is not to talk, got it?" Alto demanded and turned to leave. Before Mia could protest Alto turned the corner and disappeared.

"I'm sorry about this…" Rose laughed as they walked together across the catwalk, she was sympathetic for her friend, having to shadow her for the day. She pushed away the feeling of dread knowing Dimitri would be racing around the hospital looking for her.

"Not your fault," Mia assured, turning to face her and walk backwards, "Do you want me to fetch you a cup of coffee? Massage your feet?"

"I really didn't ask for this assignment" she giggled, she raised her hand to warn Mia of her impending collision with another person on the catwalk.

"I don't mind!" Mia interrupted quickly.

"Mia behind you!" she warned, but it was too late, she crashed into the man behind her. Mia began apologizing profusely and the man kindly brushed it off and walked away.

"Dr. Rinaldi!" exclaimed a voice Rose knew all too well, "Rose! I have been looking for you everywhere!"

"Don't Dimitri, Don't. Say. Anything!" she shouted angrily. She pushed Mia into motion but was suddenly stopped by the woman in Dimitri's bed early that morning.

"Okay the trailer sucks, but in the light of day the land in nice! Seattle is nice in the daylight and well you have a thing for ferries"

"Ferryboats." Dimitri and Rose corrected together. Rose didn't know why she corrected the woman, but she knew she wanted get out.

"Dr. Rinaldi. Rose. This is my sister, Sonya," Dimitri introduced quickly before Rose made a run for it.

"Sister?" she blurted.

"Mhm" Dimitri nodded.

"Ohhh! You're one of Dimitri's sisters!" she laughed, shoving away the anger that developed not too long ago.

"Well I knew you didn't think of me as the wife since you already ran her off." Sonya said bitterly in the attempt of humor but only resulted in a moment of awkward silence, Rose didn't know whether to feel offended or laugh to get on the good side of Dimitri's sister.

"Sonya is visiting from Baia, and she is on her way back home,"

"Well it was nice to meet you!" Rose fake smiled, this time pushing Mia forward to leave and actually pulling it off.

"McDreamy's sister is McBitch!" Mia snickered, and she and Mia erupted in a fit of laughter.

* * *

Mason skipped across the hallway in search for Eddie, after he discovered what case he was assigned to, he just wanted to rub it into Eddie's face that he had a patient with 2 uteruses right after Eddie had begged Tasha to be off her service.

"Are you trying to torture him?" Mason overheard the strange woman talking to Adrian.

"He's like family, plus I needed a change of pace…" Adrian explained.

"Oh that's no reason to pack up and move all the way across the country!" the woman argued.

"Plus I slept with my tennis partner's wife and he went out and bought a gun" Adrian hesitantly replied. Mason smiled to himself as he eavesdropped more on the conversation.

* * *

"So tell me about the slutty girl," Sonya prompted as they took a seat at Ambrose's bar. Dimitri returned with a cold-hearted glare.

"Fine… The slutty intern…" Sonya corrected.

"It's the slutty part I have a problem with, she is wonderful, she's smart and she is none of your business,"

"Wow… I've never seen you like this over a girl even Tasha"

"I've never felt like this over a girl," Dimitri shot back, the thought of Rose creeping into his mind making him smile, "especially Tasha."

"Oh don't be bitter, and yeah shame on Tasha and all that, but he's Adrian, what did you expect? He's just… Adrian and who hasn't gone there once or twice."

Dimitri's face shot up, "What did you say?"

"Oh come on, who hasn't slept with Adrian it's like a rite of passage"

_She slept with Adrian!_

Dimitri shifted in his seat turning away from his sister to swallow back the bile rising in his throat.

"Dimitri, I get it okay? I get that they made a terrible mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake! It wasn't just one night! They were together for months. Didn't you know that?"

"No… I had no idea…" Sonya denied in realization, turning silent.

"Then shut up about it and eat your lunch."

* * *

When lunch was finally over Dimitri searched for his lost girlfriend, after the confrontation on the catwalk, he hadn't seen her since. He climbed the staircase quickly, knowing the elevator wouldn't come quick enough. Just when he was about to reach the top of the stairs, a small figure blocked his path, giving him a slight jolt in shock. He glanced up to place a face on the mysterious obstruction, only to find the person he was looking for.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, running his hand through his hair, giving her a smile before she realised that she had scared him out of his wits.

"So your sister really doesn't like me," she smiled, it was strange that she didn't feel his sister's hatred to problematic.

"Sorry, she is cold to everybody," he explained.

"I um… am sorry about running out on you this morning before you could explain," she said quickly before he had a chance to change the subject.

"No… that's alright, I would have done the same,"

The shrill of her cellphone echoed across the stairwell, she glanced down at the words on her screen and scrunched her face in confusion.

"I'm sorry I have to take this."

"That's okay I'll see you tonight" he said, kissing her on the cheek.

* * *

_Roseridge_

The word printed across the screen, she dashed down the stairs and into the nearest on-call room.

"Hello?"

The next words that were spoken almost made her phone drop to the floor.

She finally reached the doors of the home that she had put her mother in. She pushed open the doors and was met with the nurse in charge of her mother.

"How did this happen?" Rose asked, glancing into the small window through the door.

"We don't know… It just happens… Medically we don't know why, it's a random gift" the nurse tried to explain.

"So she remembers everything? She's lucid?"

"Yes, she remembers everything but the last 5 years and of course she doesn't know she has Alzheimer's"

Rose watched her mother pace around her room as she reached for the handle. Once the door opened, her mother's eyes locked onto her and in the blink of an eye, her mother's arms were around her.

"Rosemarie! What is happening? When did you get back from Europe?" her mother frantically asked.

"I went to Europe… for 2 months"

"I was thinking about the fight we had, I said some terrible things… I'm sorry,"

"It's fine"

"No its not, I mean I must have had a nervous breakdown, is this a hospital? Because I don't remember anything for the last 2 months, Rose, the last thing I remember is the fight we had, If you don't want to go to medical school that's fine… it is your life,"

"I went to medical school" Rose began,

"I need to go home."

Rose hesitated "You are home… This has been your home for the last 5 years… Mom, you have Alzheimer's,"

"No…" Her mother cried, her hands gripped together, shaking violently, "No… NO!"

All of a sudden, her mother stopped and froze, her eyes rolled revealing the white. Her mother's arm clutched at her chest.

"Mom? Mom!" Rose yelled, leaping off the bed to catch her falling mother, "Someone call 911!"

The ride to the hospital was eventful, her mother drifted in and out of consciousness and the whole time she was lucid.

"Page Dr. Ozera" she commanded to the paramedic.

By the time they reached the hospital, her mother was wide awake and assessing her own vitals. The paramedic doors opened and she was greeted with Christian.

"What's her stats?"

"She has substernal chest pains," Rose began but her mother finished relaying her own status.

"She is completely lucid," Rose explained to Christian as he stood confused, "She is aware."

"Your daughter is one of our finest interns, following in your very big footsteps," Christian said, unwrapping his stethoscope from around his neck.

"Do you know if Abe Mazur still works at this hospital?"

"You mean the Chief?"

"Abe is the Chief? The Chief of Surgery?" her mother asked in shock.

* * *

Rose was avoiding, completely avoiding her mother. Once she knew her mother was in good hands she left, giving her mother the generic excuse of 'I've got a page'. She stood in the Emergency bay, staring at empty space across the street.

"Rose! where have you been? Christian has me on your mother." Lissa shouted behind her.

"I'm avoiding…" Rose explained.

"Hey! I heard about your mother! That is so great!" Mia exclaimed, dashing out of the ER.

"It's a gift!" Rose squealed sarcastically.

"Rose this is a good thing!" Mia pushed enthusiastically.

"I know, it's just my mother has a tendency to be disappointed in me a lot,"

"Oh pish posh, everything will be fine."

"Um… Rose, you mother wants to meet Dimitri…" Lissa interrupted.

"What?! What did you say?!" Rose gasped.

"Oh! Not Boyfriend Dimitri, the Neurosurgeon Dimitri." Lissa corrected.

"Right okay…" Rose replied, eyes darting to the floor.

"Are you going to come see me anytime soon?" says a voice from behind her friends. Lissa and Mia turn suddenly revealing the mystery woman, her mother.

Rose was speechless, but brought her mother back into her room. She sat quietly on the visitor's chair, her legs up on the chair, her arms wrapped protectively around them. She did this in confronting situations such as this. Her nerves were on overdrive, goose bumps raised on her arms.

"So tell me, Tell me about yourself," her mother prompted.

"Well…" she shrugged.

Her mother laughed slightly, relieving the built up tension from the silence "Tell me about your life… I really do want to know you Rosemarie."

"Well I have a boyfriend…" Rose started.

"Does he understand the demands of your job? Some men say they do but they don't and they don't say it upfront…" Janine rattled on.

"He's a doctor too so he gets it…" Rose answered.

"Good. Have you chosen a specialty?"

"No… It's still a little early, I guess I'm just waiting to be inspired, I mean I think I just feel like I have just found out who I am, I'm happy, I think when you find someone that you love… I don't know it's just… I'm really happy" Rose smiled, reminiscing on her time with Dimitri.

The smile on her mother's face vanished, "What happened to you?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"You're happy? You're happy now? What happened to you? The Rose I knew was a force of nature! Unchanged! Focused! You've gone SOFT! You're stammering about how HAPPY you are? You're waiting to be inspired? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I HAVE A DISEASE FOR WHICH THERE IS NO CURE! IS THAT NOT INSPIRATION ENOUGH?"

"Mom…" she tried, knowing very well it was pointless.

"Listen to me Rose! Anyone can fall in love and be blindly happy, but not everyone can pick up a scalpel and save a life! I raised you to be an extraordinary human being! So imagine my disappointment when I wake up in 5 years to find out that you are NOTHING BUT ORDINARY! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"

It was like a slap to the face, tears welled in her eyes threatening to fall, her mother's face was full of rage and anger. There wasn't much more she could take, Dimitri's sister… and now her mother. She bolted out of the room, locking herself in the storage closet next to her mother's room.

* * *

Dimitri stepped into the room, knowing fully well at what to expect from Rose's mother.

"Dr. Hathaway? I'm Dr. Belikov, you're neuro consult," he began, in the most professional tone he could muster. She glanced up from the pamphlet she was holding of the research project, he had put her in. She patted the bed, offering him to sit with her.

"What about a functional MRI now? While I'm still lucid" Janine said to him, as he sat at the edge of the bed staring into the eyes of Rose's mother.

"An MRI is not going to show us anything, no test is going to help us understand what is going on," Dimitri sadly informed.

Janine sighed, "So in 5 years you have made no advances, I really don't know how you can do it, day in day out watching people with this awful disease."

"Oh! You see… I'm not an Alzheimer's specialist; I just took a special interest in this case… because of Rose,"

Janine's face fell, her eyes now raging of hatred and anger, "You're what happened to her" she accused.

"I'm sorry?"

"I thought you were here for me, I thought you were here to offer me some hope, to offer me some new treatment but no, you are here for her."

"Dr. Hathaway…"

"An Attending and an intern? No wonder she is so unfocused"

"I don't think you understand!" he argued.

"Oh I understand! I understand perfectly, I've seen men like you before, threatened by a woman who is there equal! You want someone to admire you and you don't care about the damage you do to her along the way."

Dimitri sat there frozen to his spot, shocked by Janine's outburst. Finally, he cleared his throat. Regardless of what the woman thought of him and his intentions, he had to make one thing perfectly clear. "I can assure you, Dr. Hathaway, that I care a great deal about your daughter. She's absolutely amazing, and I just don't understand how you don't see that."

"How dare you talk to me like that especially about my daughter? Get out." She demanded, Dimitri scoffed and turned to leave, the pull of having the last word tugged on his conscience. Just as he reached the door he turned to face the woman,

"You may not like me. And you may not approve of my relationship with your daughter, but I need you to know that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her."

* * *

"Hey Rose!" Lissa yelled catching up to her friend in scrubs, "Wait why are you in scrubs? Didn't the Chief give you the rest of the day off?"

"Didn't you hear about the toxic patient?" Rose questioned.

"Well yeah, anyway, your mother has multiple runs of tachycardia every hour and Dr. Ozera recommends radio-ablation"

"Okay, whatever."

"She's refusing treatment,"

Rose looked over at her friend, and stormed off to her mother's room. One look at her mother's face scared away all the courage she gathered on the way to the room, she slipped open the door and leaned on the dresser.

With all the courage she had, "I'm not sure refusing treatment is what you want to do"

"Apparently what I want doesn't matter! It's not even legally binding! So it's your choice Rose!" her mother shouted.

She finally turned to her mother. "You think I WANT to make these decisions for you? You think it's fun to get calls from the nursing home asking if I want to give the nurse who changes you every morning a Christmas tip? But I do it anyway because you have managed to alienate all the people in your life and I am the only one! I have to step up and do it! You want to know what happened to me? Why I'm so unfocused? So ordinary? You! You happened to me!"

"Then let me refuse the heart surgery!" Her mother spat

"No!" she yelled.

"Why not?!"

"Because killing my mother will not be another thing that happens to me!" she said angrily, slamming the door on her way out.

* * *

Rose changed back into her street clothes after assisting the Chief on a patient whose blood became a neurotoxin. She grasped the door of her locker, leaning on it for support, the day began weighing down on her. Another shift had passed and she barely got enough sleep. Dimitri was taking his sister back to the airport, so she was alone. Again.

She staggered towards her mother's room for the third time that day, only to be surprised that the Chief had beaten her here. He stood on the far side of the bed, staring out the window. She gave him a small smile before entering the room.

"Rose…" he started.

"No… I just need to say this…" she said to him, "The reason I want you to have the surgery, is because I have this hope that in a year or maybe 5 years, they're going to have a breakthrough, they're going to find a cure for Alzheimer's and you and I are going to have another chance, You'll get the chance to get to know me, to see that I am not even remotely ordinary, so I wish you would have the surgery but it's up to you mom, it's your life"

Rose gave a sigh of relief, the tension dying down, she gazed at her mother, who kept looking around the room. Her mother's eyes finally found hers,

"You remind me of my daughter…" she said. It was like a bucket of water was splashed on to her face. Her mother was no longer lucid. She looked over to the Chief, who noticed the pain in her eyes.

"About an hour ago… I'm so sorry," the Chief said, reading her mind.

She went home and climbed into her bed, wrapping herself in the soft covers, letting the tears flow freely. The sound of the door opening knocked Rose out of her moment of pure silence. Dimitri stood in the frame, wet from the pouring rain outside. He put down his briefcase on the chair, and climbed into bed. He hugged her trembling body, and apologised again for his sister's sudden appearance. She shook her head, turning to face him. She buried her tear stained face into his chest breathing in what remained as his aftershave.

* * *

**A/N – This chapter was difficult because I wanted to mix two episodes together… making Rose's life difficult is mean but necessary for the next few chapters. I'm going to clarify again, that I will not be following the actual series, just utilising major events and mixing it up.**


	20. Into the Depths

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

Rose awoke to Dimitri's arms hanging off her torso, his warm body pressing up against her back. The events of the previous day flooded back to her. She was becoming more and more distant from her best friend, as if she was hiding something from her, Dimitri's sister and not to mention that her mother was in the hospital again.

_Am I really that ordinary? Does Dimitri really make me ordinary? _

Hours drifted by and Rose couldn't fall back asleep. She lifted Dimitri's arm and replaced her body with her pillow. He shifted slightly and snuggled closer to the pillow. She padded quietly towards the bathroom, and turned on the bath tub tap. She climbed into the warm bathtub, the water swayed at her movements, gently splashing as she lowered herself into the tub.

She sat there till daylight, deep in thought, the noises of the morning were beginning. The slam of Mason's door on his way out of his room… The clang of the pan dropping to the floor as Mia prepared to make breakfast… and lastly Dimitri's early morning fall to the floor after rolling over realising that Rose wasn't in bed with him.

Everything was falling apart. There was so much pressure.

Her mom. She was lucid for one day, _one day_, and the only thing she said to her is how disappointed she was in her. And she avoided her, and when she finally got the nerve to talk to her, she was gone.

She couldn't do it anymore.

She wanted to just disappear.

She kept staring at the ceiling of the bathroom as she held her breath and submerged herself under. She could hear the slight muffles of the morning action, and suddenly it all just faded away, it was quiet and peaceful. Away from everything… as if everything disappeared… her mind went empty… she disappeared…

She allowed herself to close her eyes, her lungs were starting to push her to get more air, but she didn't care. A dark haired form, she recognised as Dimitri, appeared above her,

"Rose?" he said, his voice still muffled by the water.

She stayed under, and he repeated her name. Her eyes slowly closed as if she were falling asleep, dropping below the levels of consciousness.

When she didn't come back up, Dimitri grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out of the water. The sudden jerk of her body hauled air into her lungs, water stung at her eyes.

"Rose! What are you doing?" Dimitri exclaimed. He brushed away the water dripping into her eyes, and reached for the towel hanging on the rack beside him. She pulled the towel from his hands and wiped her face.

_What WAS she doing…_ she thought to herself.

She climbed out of the tub and dried herself off, throwing on the clothes she had grabbed before taking the bath. Dimitri grabbed her hand, feeling the wrinkles from the long period of being underwater.

"I was taking a bath!" Rose told him, walking out of the bedroom.

"That was not a bath! I know what a bath looks like!" He called after her.

"Drop it!" Rose pushed.

"Is this about your mother?"

"Drop it!" she repeated a little loudly, capturing the attention of Mia, who was staring into Mason's room.

"Look you mother was lucid and she said things…" he began.

"And now she's gone! Everything is back to normal, it's not a big deal!" she argued back.

"She is having heart surgery today," he cupped Rose's face as she turned away and rolling her eyes at his persistence, "Do you want me to talk to the Chief? Get you a day off? I know you have that triage thing…"

"I'm FINE! I don't need a day off! And I Don't. Need. Rescuing."

"You would have drowned in the bathtub had I not been there…"

"I'm a surgeon. I do the rescuing, you are not my knight in shining… whatever"

"Oh so we are going to have a fight because I pulled you out of the tub?"

"You have a place… then you would have to pull me out of the tub" she whispered to herself. She knew she didn't mean it, "You're everywhere… all the time… saying things!"

"This is the happily ever after part, and in the happily ever after part the guy is there all the time saying things and the girls love it"

"Go to work… I'll see you there," she brushed him off.

"And just so you know I AM your knight in shining whatever" he smiled, leaning down slightly to plant a small kiss on her lips before leaving her alone with Mia and strangely empty Mason's room.

"I did not try to drown myself," she told the curious glancing Mia.

"Don't worry, I ate everything in the fridge even the tub of butter so no judgment there."

"Why is Mason's room empty?" Rose asked nonchalantly

"He moved out… to live with his new wifey" Mia replied.

"Right okay… WAIT WIFE?" she shouted.

"Mason didn't tell you?" Mia asked surprised, reading the expression on Rose's face told her she didn't "Yeah Mason went off to Vegas and married Jill"

Rose's jaw dropped to the floor, clueless as to what to say next.

* * *

"YOU'RE MARRIED?!" Rose screamed into the locker room as she eyed Mason standing at his locker.

"I…" he muttered.

"Were you EVER going to tell me?" she shouted again.

"With your mother… here… I wasn't sure what you… nevermind…" he mumbled.

Without warning she hugged him tightly, whispering a "Congratulations"

* * *

Rose sat quietly as she watched Mia diagnose a fake patient in the pit. The day grew boring the the pit was silent, no dramas, or any emergent cases that would save her from the boredom of the exercise.

"Can I have your attention please!" Abe shouted, capturing the attention of everyone in the room, "I have received word of a mass casualty accident, I need all hands on deck and I need a team out in the field."

"What? This isn't part of the exercise?" Lissa whispered to Rose, who stared at the Chief finding some sort of expression to make it so he was joking, but only to find none. She jumped off the table she was sitting on and followed Alto to prepare to go out into the field.

"Alright! We treat this as the training exercise! You know the triage drills," Alto commanded, throwing on the hospital jacket. She grabbed the triage bag and trailed Alto to the awaiting ambulance.

"Rose!" Lissa called behind her, "I need to tell you something."

"You're not pregnant again are you?" Rose teased, tossing her equipment in the ambulance.

"Dragomir, there is only room for five so you stay here and help with the incoming traumas," Alto ordered. Lissa went quiet and nodded her head.

"What did you want to tell me?" Rose asked, serious that time.

"Nevermind I'll tell you when I get back…" Lissa reluctantly answered.

Rose climbed into the truck with Alto and her fellow interns. The bumpy ride to the scene was silent, everyone deep in thought at where they were headed and what had actually happened. The ambulance came to a sudden stop and Mason was first to climb out. He stopped a few steps ahead of the ambulance to see the destruction and flames of the ferryboat in front of them.

"Holy mother of" Mia exclaimed, not able to complete her sentence, as she surveyed the scene. Helicopters flew above their heads, firefighters battled the blaze of the ferryboat, paramedics rushed back and forth to save the lives of the survivors. Tarmacs were laid out across the dock, many of them covered in bodies. The scene was complete chaos, there was screaming, one's of agony and pain, one's of grief, others of orders. Mason followed one of the passing paramedics to assist with the paramedic's patient.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Fog bank, the container ship clipped the ferryboat," the paramedic explained.

The group of interns disbanded and rushed over to help with the wounded. Rose knelt down to assist a woman who began hyperventilating as she walked past.

"Ma'am, I need you to calm down…" Rose said softly, taking out the stethoscope from her bag. She listened to the racing heartbeat of the woman. She removed the stethoscope from her ears and her attention was immediately captured by the sound of a young girl crying.

"Ma'am your injuries are minor, I will get you to a hospital as soon as possible okay?" she assured, the woman nodded and began to calm down. Once Rose had the lady in a stable position she walked over to the young girl.

"Is this your mommy?" Rose asked the girl, who shook her head slowly. Rose glanced around in search for any woman searching for a lost child.

"Arghhh!" a man screamed near pier, his body pulling him out of the water.

"Okay I need to help that man, so I want you to stay here, and don't move." She told the little girl. She stepped forward but was pulled back by the young girl, her hand now wrapped tightly by the fear from the girl. Rose held onto the girl's hand and started to assess the man with one hand.

Rose drew out the gauze from her bag and pressed it against the wound on the man's leg. Blood oozed through the gauze and onto her gloves.

"Hey, I want you to turn around, and don't look okay?" she told the little girl staring down at the blood gushing out of the gauze. The little girl nodded and turned around letting go of her hand. Now with her free hand she uses both hands to apply pressure. There wasn't much she could do with both hands on the wound.

"Hey, I know I said not to look but I need you to turn around for me" the girl hesitantly turned around, and immediately stared down, "Don't look down, look at me! I need your help, I can't move my hands right now, so I need you to go over to my bag and pull out the tweezers, you know the things that your mommy uses to pull out splinters?"

The young girl nodded in understanding and moved over to the bag, pulling out the tweezers. The man shivered as the coldness of the water from his clothing seeped into his body. His body shuddered in violent jerks.

"I can't stand it! The pain!" the man screamed.

The man reared up, his arms swinging from side to side knocking her backwards. She fell into the water, her head slammed against the side of the pier. She could feel the cold rush of the water chill her body before she plunged into darkness of her unconsciousness.

* * *

Dimitri felt a sudden urge of unease just as he climbed out of the ambulance. He surveyed the scene, breathing in the scent of smoke and burning flesh. The fire on the ferryboat was obviously almost out, but as the smoke began to dissipate the damage to the boat was painfully obvious. The ferryboats can carry a thousand people on just one ship and almost a quarter of the boat was gone, either burnt away or in the harbor.

He quickly rushed over to the red tarmacked floor, assisting the paramedic with his patient with obvious head and leg trauma. A little girl clung to the edge of the gurney as the man was pushed towards the awaiting ambulance.

"Almost amputation to the left leg, and luckily his artery was tied off," the paramedic told him.

"Who tied it off?" Dimitri asked curiously, as he glanced over at the jacket covering the patient, it was one of the hospitals. The ID tag pinned to the collar caught his eye, his girlfriend's face printed on it, "Where is the doctor?"

"Don't know… we found him by the pier…" the paramedic explained, pushing the gurney into motion and into the ambulance. Dimitri turned to the little girl still holding on tight.

"Hey sweetie, Do you know where Rose is?" he asked softly, the girl was shivering in fear, but remained emotionless, "Do you know if she is okay?"

There was a pause before the young girl began to shake her head, Dimitri stood up in shock, shaking his head back and forth searching the area for Rose, "Can you show me where she is?"

The young girl guides him to the pier, and stopped to stare out into the open water. Dimitri bent down to meet the little girl's eyes, "Sweetie… Where exactly is Rose?" she stared back at him before returning her gaze to the water, she lifted her arm slowly pointing directly into the harbor. Dimitri's stomach flipped in nausea as he realised what the little girl had meant… Rose was in the water… the events of the morning rushed back to him, she had tried to drown herself in the bath… She couldn't… Could she?

"Stay here" he ordered to the girl.

Without another thought he raced over to the edge peering over to try and gain sight of Rose, but it was clear, no bubbles or shadow. His heart began to race, he had to find her… he had to… He shrugged off his jacket and dived straight in.

It was so cold it was like hitting a pane of glass. The surface shattered at his touch and the icy water bit at the exposed skin of his cheeks. He surfaced, the air stung his wet face. He took a deep breath before he dove back into the depths.

Wildly he searched the harbor beside the pier. _Where are you? _He thought frantically.

His lungs began to scream at him, desperately needing the oxygen. Reluctantly he resurfaced, pulling more than enough air into his lungs. The pain began to reside and he held his breath again, diving deeper. The bottom of the harbor drew near and he knew she would be around here somewhere. He turned in the water trying to look in all directions.

There.

A figure about 6 feet from where he was, he could see the easily distinguishable blue scrubs of the residents of the hospital. What shocked him was the colour of her, she was blue, literally almost the colour of her scrubs. He seized her shoulders, pulling her up to the surface, the light bounced off her face, her lips were purple, skin a pale blue, she looked…

"No!" he yelled, swimming towards the ladder. He pushed her body onto the platform and lifted her into his arms. A man with a bright orange vest stood in front of him, holding onto the young girl's hand to take her away. But his attention was captured by Dimitri and what looked to be a corpse in his arms.

"Help…" Dimitri gasped. The man raced towards the ambulance to retrieve a gurney. Once Rose was on the gurney Dimitri began CPR, he climbed onto the gurney straddling her and continued with compressions as the paramedics pushed them to the ambulance.

_1,2,3,4…5 _He repeated in his head, a number for each compression before he had to breathe for her.

The way back to hospital dragged on for ages, his hands continuing to press onto her chest, as she won't respond. He could feel her ribs crack slightly under his hands. He bent over, meeting his lips to hers, blowing air into her lungs.

"Come on!" he yelled. The ambulance came to a stop, and the doors swung open.

"What have we got?" Alto asked the paramedic.

"Jane Doe, found in the water… Hypothermic" the paramedic tried to explain.

"She's not a Jane Doe!" Dimitri exclaimed, lifting his lips of hers and continued with compressions, he looked Alto in the eye, "It's Rose… Rose Hathaway…"

"Dimitri! Dimitri, How long has she been down?" Alto asked.

"I… I don't know…" he replied, lifting his hands off Rose as they pushed her off the platform of the ambulance.

"Okay… Clear a trauma bay NOW!" Alto ordered the intern behind him. Together they got Rose into the trauma room, attaching heart monitors and other devices to her.

"What's going on here?" The Chief asked, walking into the room, he brushed his hair backwards as he realised who the patient was, "Rose…",

"Use atropine… I saw a reaction in her pupils… when I pushed atropine…" Dimitri relayed, stuttering on his own words.

"Dimitri, Get out." the Chief ordered, taking over the compressions "We need to save her life! Go!"

Dimitri brushed her head as he was about to step out.

"We'll get a neuro consult, get out Belikov." The chief demanded.

Dimitri stepped outside, and leaned against the opposing wall just outside the room. His body slid to the floor, tears flowing out of his eyes.

_How could she do this to me?_ He thought to himself.

Christian stood at the door, glancing into the small window. He turned back around and stared back at his colleague.

"Dimitri…" he said sympathetically, "What do you need?"

Dimitri was quiet for a moment, trying to break through his train of thoughts to find an answer to Christian's question, "I need you to go in there…"

Christian nodded, and pushed open the door. Dimitri took the chance to glimpse into the room, to see if Rose was back.

Moments later another set of footsteps approached, the large form loomed above him. The man knelt down and sat beside him. Dimitri easily recognised the man as Adrian, and nodded his head slightly, acknowledging that he was there. Adrian lifted his hand and squeezed Dimitri's arms slightly as a sign of support. Dimitri sucked in a jagged breath and nodded again, but remained silent.

They sat together in silence, just convincing themselves that Rose would pull through.

* * *

Mia and Mason leaned against the doors into the ER, being banned from entering the trauma room to see Rose. They had been told after each one of them got a page, and there they were waiting for any news on Rose.

"Is it really her?" Lissa asked as she walked up to the group of interns, "It's not her! It can't be!"

Lissa attempted to push through the doors, but was pulled back by Eddie, "It's her… It's Rose"

"No…" Lissa whispered, her breath became shorter and was struggling to pull in another breath, "No!" she repeated.

"She will come through this!" Mia assured, grasping onto Lissa's now trembling form.

"You don't know that…" Mason said sadly, he was beginning to lose hope. The longer Rose was down, the less chance that she would make it back. Mason's eyes grew with more tears, "People die…"

Mia looked at Mason with disbelief "I know people die! People die in front of us every day! But I BELIEVE that Rose will come though this, she will survive!"

Mia pushed herself off the door, to stand in front of Lissa, giving her a supportive hug. Both of them, now letting the tears flow down their cheeks.

Rose awoke to a coughing fit, her mouth was dry and her throat burned. She sat up quickly, a dark form appeared to her left, she turned to see who it was. Dylan. It was the bomb squad guy. She immediately knew what his appearance meant.

"Am I… Am I dead?" she asked him.

"Damn Right you are…" Another voice said, she turned around and saw Aaron, leaning against the table on her right.

"Holy Shit…" she said to herself.

* * *

**A/N - Mwahahaha this chapter and the next is very similar to the actual Grey's so uhm… if you want you can literally watch the episode to know what happens next, Episode is Season 3 Episode 17. But I will be changing it from now on, im packing this story away now… trying to find a way to end it… ****Happy Australia Day to those who celebrated it 2 days ago lol.**


	21. The Reality in Limbo

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

_Previously on Battle Scars_

Rose awoke to a coughing fit, her mouth was dry and her throat burned. She sat up quickly, a dark form appeared to her left, she turned to see who it was. Dylan. It was the bomb squad guy. She immediately knew what his appearance meant.

"Am I… Am I dead?" she asked him.

"Damn Right you are…" Another voice said, she turned around and saw Aaron, leaning against the table on her right.

"Holy Shit…" she said to herself.

* * *

The hospital was quiet, that was where she was in this alternate universe. It was the place where she died. Dylan and Aaron stood before her, conversing with each other. While they bickered about who was tougher and who was dead longer, she thought of what brought her there. She raised her hand up to her head where there should be a throbbing pain, she had hit her head when she fell into the water, she could feel the jagged cut along her hairline, but she could feel no blood or pain.

"Rose… this is not your brain on drugs, this is death, you're dead, you're really freaking dead, you're dirt nap dead, no more you dead," Dylan spoke up.

"Woah! Woah! Way to harsh" Aaron scolded, "Remember, we were going to take it easy…"

"She's running out of time…" Dylan argued back.

* * *

Meanwhile back in reality, Tasha walked out of Rose's room, and into the hallway where Dimitri paced back and forth.

"How is she?" he shouted once he saw her.

"Her temp is still only 86 and there is still no heartbeat, they are working as hard as they can, hoping she will warm up," Tasha explained.

"I want to go in there! She could have brain damage, I have to go in there!" Dimitri exclaimed.

"Dimitri! You can't! Not for Rose and not for anybody, you are in no state to…" Tasha said. She turned around and pushed open the door to where Rose's intern friends stood.

"It's not good…" Tasha began.

"Is she still cyanotic? I mean what was her initial temp? What is taking so long?" Lissa asked quickly, stepping in front of Tasha blocking any path of escape.

"Dr. DRAGOMIR" Tasha shouted, "It's NOT good… They're trying everything they can… You should… You should prepare yourselves."

"Prepare ourselves? That's what we say to people before they call time of death…" Lissa said to herself, "I can't do this… I can't…"

"Lissa…" Mia spoke up softly, as Lissa stepped backwards further and further away from the doors leading to where Rose was.

* * *

Rose continued to sit in silence, Dylan and Aaron still conversing with each other. This abruptly felt like what she wanted, being dead seemed like the easy way out from the hellish life she was living back in reality.

Suddenly, Aaron turned to face her "Rose… You drowned in the harbor…"

"Yeah that sucked," Rose replied casually.

Aaron's face turned sour and slammed his hand on the exam table she was sitting on, "Rose, do you want to be here?"

"I… um…"

"I understand that it is easier, but it's not the right thing, you called us here for a purpose and it's because you want to go back. And this is what is going to happen if you don't go back, you know you are Mason's family, Mia… she lost me, and Lissa, her dad died when she was 9 in a car accident, and he bled out in front of her while they waited for an ambulance and Eddie…"

"STOP!" she screamed at him.

"You have to understand that these people are going to break if you die, you have to let go off your mother's disappointment, it's who she is… and she's holding you back. You need to let it go… think of your friends and Dimitri, let them draw you back. Do you know what kind miracle it is that Dimitri is the man that he is? How rare it is for a man to be someone like Dimitri? He's still an optimist! He's the kind of guy of believes in true love, magic and soul mates. If you die you are going to destroy that"

* * *

Dimitri changed into his street clothes and sat down in Janine's room, waiting for her to wake up so he could give her a piece of his mind. He grew tired and almost fell asleep just as she woke up.

"Water, get me water…" Janine demanded hoarsely. Dimitri shook his head in disbelief but got her the water anyway. He stood at her bedside, ready to tell her what he thought of her.

"You broke her. You told her she was ordinary. You told her time and time again that she was nothing she ever did was good enough. Every good thing that Rose is, is destroyed because of you, she may not survive this, that is on you. THAT IS ON YOU!" he raised his voice, and Janine stared back at him, clueless as to what he was talking about. But he didn't care, this was her fault, her fault that Rose drowned herself in the harbor.

"Dimitri!" Tasha scolded. Dimitri stomped out of Janine's room, and rounded the corner, then began pacing back and forth. This was her fault, she would not have been in the water if she hadn't called her ordinary. He wanted to hit himself for letting her stray away from him, he knew her history and yet he still let her think the way she did.

"She was pulling away from me and I wasn't there for her…"

Tasha went silent, and then said "You think she went in the water on her own?"

"She knows how to swim… Rose… She is a good swimmer" Dimitri cried, realising that he was confirming his own doubts.

"Dimitri, you don't know that, Dimitri!" she said cupping his face, "You do not get to break down! You don't get to fall apart! Not when there is still a chance!"

He nodded solemnly, and glanced down at his feet. Her pager rang breaking the quiet between them, "Okay."

"Okay," she repeated walking away to answer the page, leaving Dimitri alone to console himself.

Dimitri felt like he was punched in the gut, he suddenly thought back to the last time they had made love. Obviously they didn't know how significant that time was, the moment when their lips met, or when they became one.

* * *

Christian walked into the bar across the street strangely knowing where Lissa was. He spotted her across the empty bar almost immediately, the bench top surrounded in plastic bags and other items.

"There is no change…" he informed her.

"No kidding," she replied, taking another shot.

"People can come back from this…" he assured.

"I'm not a civilian and I know the science here… it's drinking time," She argued, Christian didn't understand the coldness he was receiving, she was usually the kind heart, optimistic type, but now it seemed like Pandora's box had opened, making her lose all hope.

"You can't give up, you have a responsibility to Rose…"

"I CAN'T!" she cried, "I can't go back there… I can't…"

"Listen to me, this is about you and the woman you call your person, disregard all the science, If she dies and you are sitting here when that happens, I don't see you coming back from this… come and say goodbye to your friend" Christian whispered softly.

* * *

Rose was suddenly in the hallway, she remembered it as the place where Dimitri asked her to Prom, she knew then and there that she wanted to go back, but to release all the things that were holding her to were not that easily removed.

"I wanted to go back… I did… but then I thought… what's the point?" she began to explain. Aaron sat opposite her, ready to help her in any way he could to help her go back, "Don't tell anybody…"

"Okay…" he whispered.

They sat together in silence for a while, before suddenly Aaron sucked in a sharp breath. A smile formed on his face and a single tear rolled down the side of his cheek.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Mia…" he breathed out, and he closed his eyes.

"You can see her?" she questioned.

"No…" he replied, "Sometimes when you are in the same place at the same time… and I can almost hear her voice, it's like I'm touching her. I like to believe that she knows I'm there"

A tear now rolled down Rose's cheek "That's all you get… just a moment with the people you love… and they'll move on… and you'd want them to move on, but still Rose… that is all you get… just that second"

"Is this really happening?"

"I don't know Rose… This is your afterlife not mine…"

Rose closed her eyes, thinking back to all the times she had with Dimitri, their first night together… who'd have thought that Dimitri, her one night stand, would turn out to be the one. The person she thought she would spend the rest of her life with until they were both old and they would die in each other's arms.

She grew up never believing that she would ever find love, nor would she ever thought she would want kids. But that's what he did to her. He made her want things, made her want to have kids, made her want a lifetime with him. But that was all fading, she could feel it in her soul, that she was running out of time and she was running out faster than she believed she had.

She raced into the ER, unexpectedly knowing that they would be there. She opened to doors to reveal Bonnie, her train accident patient, Dylan and Aaron.

"I don't want to here! I want to go back!" she announced entering the room.

"Oh honey… they told us that there wasn't much time…" Bonnie replied solemnly.

"I'm out of time?! No! I can't! I had intimacy issues! Do you know how stupid that sounds now? It's not enough! Just a whiff of Dimitri… or Lissa…." She cried, "I need to go back! Please!"

* * *

_Her soft snoring had kept him up majority of the morning, every night he would wait till she'd fall asleep before trekking down to the living room to crash on the couch. He would set the alarm on his phone, ready to wake up before Rose wakes. _

_That morning he climbed into bed with a smile on his face as he watched his girlfriend snore… scratch that… sleep. She suddenly jerks awake, and notices Dimitri staring intently at her._

_"Morning," he greeted, leaning over to plant a sloppy kiss on her lips._

_"Are you watching me sleep?" she asked curiously, wondering why he was up earlier than her._

_"Maybe…" he smiled, brushing away stray hair on her face._

_"Are you the kind of weirdo who watches a woman sleep?" she teased._

_"Maybe…" he repeated again, this time making Rose giggle, he loved her giggle, it always made him want to climb on top of her and do things to make her feel so special._

_The following morning he was drowsy, still half asleep while his head was being supported by hand, propped up by the pillow. She jerked awake, exactly the same way as the previous morning. She glanced over to Dimitri who she noticed was watching her again._

_"You're watching me sleep again?" she asked._

_"You're cute when you sleep what can I say?" he smiled._

_"Yeah, but don't you sleep? Why do you always wake up before the alarm?"_

_"I'm just a light sleeper, no big deal"_

_"So something woke you up…"_

_"Like I said… No big deal… " Dimitri tried to assure, but Rose's intense eyes were beginning to pull the truth out of him, "It's just that you snore a little."_

_"What?!" Rose sat up quickly, "I do not!" she whined, pushing away his incoming hand to stroke her head._

_"Yes you do!" he laughed, "It's cute! I find it charming that such a big noise can come from such a little person."_

_He leaned over to kiss her lips, but she turned her head away._

_"Do you know what's not charming?"_

_"What?"_

_"You're morning breath"_

_"I'm sorry… What?" Dimitri's face fell, searching his girlfriend's face for any sign that she was kidding. He dropped back onto his pillow and cupped his hands to try and smell his breath._

_"I'm just saying that since you're always up before me, you might consider brushing your teeth"_

_"Okay… This is me brushing my teeth…" he said quietly, kissing her cheek before climbing out of bed. She smacked his abdomen playfully, and then crossed her arms against her chest. He laughed all the way to the bathroom._

_Very early the next morning, he had had enough, his shift had ended more later than expected, leaving him extremely fatigued, her snoring had woken him again. The climbed out of bed and noticed Mason's bedroom door open, noticing the empty bed, he stumbled into the room and dropped dead onto the bed._

_Hours later, he awoke to Rose's screaming._

_"OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?" she shouted at him, she stood at the doorframe in her Dartmouth t-Shirt._

_He grunted in response, shifting on the bed,_

_"Where is Mason?" she exclaimed._

_"He spent the night in the hospital" he assumed._

_"And you spent the night in his bed?!" she cried, "All night?"_

_He moaned against the morning light ,"Just after you fell asleep…"_

_"So you're saying my snoring is so bad, how did you spend all your nights?"_

_"He would sleep on the couch, set an alarm and get back into bed before you wake up," Mia explained walking past._

_"Yeah… I didn't want to hurt your feelings…"_

_"Oh I'm going to do more than hurt your feelings!" she seethed, grabbing the pillow on the end of the bed and hitting Dimitri with it._

_"Stop!" He laughed, snatching the pillow next to him and beating her with it. He took a hold on her arm and pulled her onto the bed. He wrapped a strong arm around her body as she continued laughing. He gave out a hearty breath in her face, giving her a whiff of his so called morning breath. She kept laughing and continued to tease him all morning._

Later that day she had approached him at the main nurse's station where he sat doing charts. He remembered specifically that she had asked where he had spent the nights when they were at the trailer. He recalled explaining that he had spent those nights on the hammock outside. Those three days he spent were some of the happiest he spent with her.

His moment of quiet was interrupted by the wailing of a heart monitor, notifying him that Janine was in cardiac arrest. He pushed his way through the chaos of the nurses trying to save her life. He continued to perform CPR, he was like an expert on it now, what would happen if he did it for an extended period of time, what it would do to the patient.

The heart monitor wailed again, this time she was in V-Fib. He grabbed the paddles that were being handed to him, and attempted to shock Janine's heart back into motion. But his efforts were growing futile as Janine continued to be unresponsive.

* * *

Rose struggled to pull in another breath, she wondered why she even needed to breath in the afterlife, since breathing was a part of living, why was breathing a necessity in wherever this place was.

"I can't breathe," she gasped, tears still flowing down her face.

"This will pass…" Bonnie assured from a distance.

"It won't…" she cried "It feels like…"

She fought to find the right words, a shadow loomed across the window on the opposite side of her. The shadow soon became a person, a person she was not expecting at all.

"Mom?" she asked herself, jumping off the bed to meet her mother. Her mother stood at the end of the hallway, and both of them stared at each other before moving closer and closer together, meeting in the middle.

"You shouldn't be here" her mother spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Neither should you…" Rose replied.

"Just keep going!" her mother ordered, her mother suddenly wrapped her arms around her body. Rose hugged her mother back, relishing in the moment she had awaited her whole life, the moment when she knew for sure that her mother cared. Cared for her. Loved her.

"You… You are anything but ordinary, Rosemarie…" her mother said quietly but full of certainty, her mother grasped Rose's shoulders and pulled back, tears filled both of their eyes "Now Run…"

Her mother gave her a push of encouragement, and she kept walking, she drew closer and closer to the elevator, and suddenly a flash of white light, she was no longer in the hospital, in fact she didn't know where she was, soon she could feel herself in her body again, the brightness of the hospital light seeped through her eyelids. She could hear the sound of someone talking to her, but the words were incoherent.

"You're brain works! All you have to do its form a word!" the voice said, the words becoming more and more clear. She identified the voice as Lissa, she searched her brain for a word, but all she could say was, "Ouch"

Lissa breathed out a sigh of relief, and Rose attempted to open her eyes, she could see Lissa through the small slits her eyes made.

"I'm engaged!" Lissa exclaimed suddenly, "I wanted you to hear it from me and not from the hospital grapevine."

They talked for hours, each hour Rose grew stronger and became more and more awake. Finally, Rose was moved into a private VIP room. Rose awoke to Dimitri hovering in the doorway.

"Hey" he smiled, stepping into the room, and pecking her on the lips, after that he went quiet, knowing it would be hard to tell her the bad news.

"My mother is dead isn't she?" Rose asked him. He froze in his place, shocked at how she knew.

"Yes…" he replied reluctantly.

"I think it's okay…"

He lowered the handrail of the bed, and climbed into the bed with her.

This was the second time this year that he had to spend the night in a hospital bed with Rose in it as the patient. He continued to wonder if the universe was playing some kind of cosmic joke and they were puppets being strung along in a miserable world.

"I didn't do it on purpose…" she said breaking the silence.

"What?" he asked.

"I didn't drown myself, I didn't jump in on purpose…" she told him, "The patient pushed me backwards… and I knocked my head on the side as I fell"

"Oh Milaya… I know…" Dimitri snuggled closer to her body, he relished on how perfect she fitted against his body, he smiled to himself, glad to know that she was alive… again.

* * *

**A/N – Ha.**

**~Review ;)**


	22. Forever More

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N****- Some of u may know i updated this story and may have received a chapter not found thingy.. Thank u to katylou1986 for informing me... Hope it works this time...**

* * *

**Chapter 22**

She woke up to the tingling sensation of poor circulation to her arm. She must have spent the entire night on her side because her hand was ice cold. Dimitri still had his arm draped around her midsection. She pulled her arm out of the position and tried to turn so she could face him.

The moments that followed her were blissful, she lay there just staring at Dimitri's peaceful sleeping form. His soft breathing fell against her nose as she met her own with his.

Of course, perfection didn't last. The nurse that was assigned to her for the day walked in, checking her stats before stepping out to leave the peaceful couple alone. Moments later, her fellow interns and her resident walked in, she assumed it was morning rounds.

"Doctor Rosemarie Hathaway-" Mason began, only to be cut off.

"In for surgical removal of neurosurgeon," Eddie cut in. "First attempts were unsuccessful, but we hope to- oompf," he expelled a breath of air as Mia elbowed him hard in the stomach.

"Shut up, Eddie," she hissed.

"What?" He asked, taking a step away from her. "Everyone else thought it was funny."

And it was true. Lissa and Mason were laughing quietly, and even Alto and the Chief cracked smiles. Even Rose laughed slightly before the dull pain of her ribs stopped her. Mason continued his presentation and the group left soon after.

Dimitri stirred, moaning at the commotion of the morning. "What time is it?" he groaned.

"It's 4:30… Go back to sleep…"

She smiled as he worked around the bed railing and stumbled onto his feet. He flailed for a moment, gripping the side rail on the bed to retain his footing. He pulled one of his McDreamy smiles in the attempt to make her believe he was fine, but it faded. A single tear escaped his left eye, falling quickly down his face. Rose quickly lifted her hand to brush away the tear trail, she left her hand on his cheek, gently caressing it.

"I love you so much," he blurted, he dropped his head to stare at his feet, his tears now freefalling. He didn't want to be that close to losing her… EVER. He broke down in his place, Rose painfully sat up so she could reach to console him.

"I love you too," she whispered, putting her forehead against his. She held his face amorously, wiping away the tears that continued to fall.

* * *

A week in the hospital later, Rose was finally discharged out the hospital. Every single day of her stay Dimitri hovered, just standing over her, watching her every move. He even told off some of her friends not to be rough with her. Even though, Rose found it endearing and sweet, I was starting to get on her nerves.

On the drive home, Dimitri gripped the wheel continuously at every intersection.

"Dimitri… That's the third time you have done that" she said breaking the tense silence.

"Done what?" he asked.

She went with it anyway, "Gripping the wheel like that"

Dimitri opened his mouth to protest, but instead looked down at the steering wheel. He found his hands clenched there, so tightly that his knuckles had faded from flesh-coloured to a pale shade of white. He yanked his hands back as though the steering wheel was actually a wheel of fire, only to have Rose giggle at him.

He glanced over at her, the longer he stared, the more he wanted to take her home so he can feel her up. Ever since she was brought back to life something was different, he became more insecure, knowing the thin line between life and death, and how Rose literally crossed the line for 3 hours before coming back to life through some sort of miracle. A miracle his was ever so grateful for.

All he needed at that point was some security, something he believed could be found when finally making love to her and realising that he wasn't dreaming and that Rose was alive and still loving him back.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. The light remained red.

She stopped laughing. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He tore his eyes from his stoplight vigil and grinned as he met her gaze. "I'm taking you home from the hospital."

"You are." She nodded. "Right now."

"It's a momentous occasion," Dimitri said.

"It is, isn't it?" she agreed.

Light. Still red. He stopped himself from growling in frustration and turned back to her, where she still sat, that amused look still plastered on her face.

Why does Rose make everything she do look so sexy? He thought to himself. He reached down and turned off the heater. He flipped down the sunshield, though the sun had almost set. Nothing seemed to help with the sudden flush of heat.

He looked back to the light which turned green. He gunned the accelerator, the force knocking them back into their seat.

He barely made into the house, before he pushed Rose against the foyer and kissed her passionately. Rose kissed him back immediately knowing exactly what he wanted. It was strange, he was so… horny? It didn't seem like the right word but it described his emotions right now. She shoved off his duster, and their pants followed the same fate.

She wrapped her arms around his neck so that she could jump up to link her legs around his waist. He spun to push her up against the wall, he drove straight into her, she laid her head on his shoulder feeling the bliss of him inside of her. Her torso slammed up against him as he withdrew and plunged, withdrew and plunged.

He nearly collapsed at the feel of her, withdrawing only enough to drive into her again. It was brutal. He couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop. He needed this. Needed to...

He drove at her, pushing, wanting, needing, until there was nothing but the feeling. The feeling of her tight and wet and slick and clenching around him as she came.

She sucked on the skin of his neck and then he was gone, careening over the cliff he'd been scaling since he'd gotten into that car. He released into her, and his legs nearly gave out. Several seconds passed. He spilled the last of himself into her and stood there, panting, unable to speak. The post orgasmic bliss still racing around his body.

"Holy crap," she breathed.

He leaned over top of her and rested his forehead on the wall, taking in heaving breath after heaving breath.

"Yeah," he agreed,

Every muscle in his body felt like it was melting. He got his footing back completely and set Rose down, pulling out of her as he did so.

"That was..." she said.

"Yeah," he said.

For a long moment, they stared at each other, just stared. A sudden grin appeared on Rose's face

"Round 2?" she suggested with a smile.

"Hell yes," he answered. She raced up the stairs while lifting her shirt above her head. He laughed, shrugged off his shirt and chased after her.

* * *

After Round 4 they both grew tired, exhausted from their day's work. Rose dozed off first, leaving Dimitri alone to his thoughts. He snuggled against her small body, and tucked his face into her hair. Her hair still smelt like the lavender from her conditioner. His eyes slowly closed shut as he fell into the depths of sleep.

_He struggled to breathe, the water around him was adding pressure to his lungs. The deeper and deeper he went… the harder and harder the pressure was becoming. He searched everywhere, anything that would lead her to him, but he found none. She was nowhere to be found, he reached the bottom of the water, and still nothing. She was gone._

He jerked awake, breathing heavily. He glanced over to Rose's side of the bed and found it empty. He sat up quickly, his heart beat harder in his chest, sending shockwaves through his body as he felt an oncoming panic attack. Where was she? He asked himself. His dream began melding into his reality, suddenly overwhelming him with fear that his dream was real. The sound of the toilet alerted his senses, the sound gushing water soon followed. Rose's naked figure stepped out of the bathroom and stopped at the door.

"I'm sorry… Did I wake you?" she asked, the lull of her voice seeping into his body, his heart rate slowed down and pressure began to fade. He shook his head slightly, and he dropped his head to pillow. He tried to regain his composure and sucked in a deep breath.

She walked over to him and swung her leg over his lower body, she supported herself with on leg on the floor and the other on the bed. She lowered herself to straddle him, adding a slight pressure to his manhood. She smirked at him as she lay down onto his chest, pecking his lips slightly. He held back a moan as she could feel his developing erection from under her. He grasped her arms tightly and pulled her closer to him. They were then kissing with full force, he pushed her body around so that he was on top.

"We're taking this slow…" he moaned. As she kissed him so passionately, he thought he was dead because it was like heaven.

"How slow?" she asked, running her finger though his hair.

"Very… Slow…" he replied. He kissed along her body, each time slightly biting the spots he knew were her weakness. Rose snaked her tongue into his mouth and moaned in pleasure as he entered her slowly. Once he felt he couldn't go any further, she wrapped her legs around his body and pushed him further in, she screamed from the bottom of her soul as he penetrated her deeper hitting her cervix.

She let go of her legs slightly so he could pull out, he slipped almost all the way out of her and re-entered her leisurely. He continued his slow pace, pushing into her in thorough strokes hitting all the right places that were bringing her closer to the edge.

Involuntarily their pace quickened and gathered on force. He dived into her a few more times and she collapsed all around him triggering his own release.

He began to remove himself from her but Rose quickly clenched around him, holding him in place. "Wait. Not yet. Just...for a few more minutes," she said softly, pressing a kiss to his lips.

"Okay," Dimitri murmured into her mouth. He put his hand against her chest and felt her heart beating underneath his palm. It was quick, the way it always was after sex. He smiled, knowing he did that to her, just as she did the same for him.

* * *

It was her first day back at work, and the lingering death of her mother hung over the hospital. Everyone turned to look at her once she entered a room, all with sympathetic glances. She hurried towards the intern locker room to hide away from all the stares. Today was going to be a long day.

"How you doing?" Mason asked entering the room.

"Okay… I'm only going to say this once, I am fine, my mother is cremated, I picked out a nice urn and she is sitting at the back of my closet, any more questions about my dead mother or can we get back to work?" She replied, Mason and Eddie turning back around to face their lockers. At that moment Alto entered the room, charts in his hand.

"Okay peoples, Ashford you're with Belikov, Dragomir with Ozera, not Christian, Rinaldi with the other Ozera, Castile with the Jane Doe and Hathaway you're on scut."

Rose sighed "Once again, I am fine!"

"You can tell everybody you are fine until it blows up in your face… Your mom died and you almost joined her, you're taking it easy." He ordered, leaving the room.

Rose sighed in disappointment, she was hoping that her first day back, she would actually get to do post ops or pre ops but No… she was stuck chasing down labs.

She was sort of glad she was put on scut that day, because all she could think about was Dimitri and his strange attachment to her. They were having amazing sex, it's not like they rarely have amazing sex but this time the sex was amazing yet oddly strange… like the additional desperate need, especially from him.

She wondered if this strange alteration was because she had a near death… whatever and now he was clinging onto her for dear life. As much as she loved his caring and desire to be with her… he was EVERYWHERE… and not just turning a corner and bumping into him sort of everywhere, it was looking over at the corner to see him standing there and turning the other way and seeing him there too.

He was hovering… and hovering big time.

One moment in the afternoon, she would've sworn she saw her father walking around the hospital. Another hour into her shift, she literally bumped into him, or maybe he was following her and wanted to 'bump' into her. She gave him a big fake smile and walked away. She sneakily searched for a chart, anything that had his last name on it. _Zoe Sage_. She opened the chart, glancing at why she was in the hospital. She was in labour.

"Well that explains everything…" she whispered to herself.

That evening, Dimitri and Rose got off work at approximately the same time. They drove home together in silence, the weight of the day hung over them. She was too tired to tell him about her day and so was he.

They climbed into bed without a shower or taking off their work clothes, just diving under the covers to get some well-deserved sleep.

_The wetness of his clothes chilled his body throughout the ride. His hands pushing down onto her chest, he could hear the cracking of her sternum as the force of his compressions grew stronger as he became more desperate. Suddenly he was in the ER standing at the window, glancing into the trauma room, where Rose lay on the table, a pale blue. Tasha stood above her, her hands on Rose's chest continuing compressions. _

_The sound of the flat-line on the heart monitor haunted his inner self. Tasha and Alto looked like they grew tired, almost falling to the floor in fatigue. Another flash of white light appeared before his eyes and he was inside the trauma room, standing on the end of the bed holding onto her feet. She was warm, and her face was a normal colour but the heart monitor was still wailing in alarm. Alto wiped away the sweat away from his forehead, and glanced at the clock. Reluctantly, Alto said "Time of death 6:49pm" _

Dimitri jolted awake, sweat dripping down the side of his face. His tried to regain his laboured breathing. She was still asleep, her gentle snores alerting him to her even breathing. She was turned away from him, her back towards him. He pressed his body against her back, letting her body sink into his. He nuzzled into her hair, breathing in her scent, still trying to calm his heart beat which raced away in his chest. He rested his hand on her abdomen, gently rubbing it as he felt her chest going up and down, in this case side to side, as she breathed.

It was the hundredth time, he had a dream about Rose being dead, each time a little different, but all with the same ending. And usually the same time of death…

In reality that exact time was when he called Rose's mother's time of death. Moments later when he called it, a page alerted him to Rose's status. He had raced towards the ER to see Lissa already inside talking to a very much alive Rose. He had dropped to the seat next to him, tears flowed down his face and he breathed in a sigh of relief. He had only gained enough strength to even remotely be near her was when she was transferred into the VIP room.

* * *

Rose awoke in the early hours of the morning, to Dimitri mumbling to himself in his sleep. His head was wet from sweat and his eyes were slightly scrunched, he was obviously uncomfortable, but she couldn't find anything that she was doing that could be making him uncomfortable. She turned in his arms and realised that he was dreaming. He was muttering her name, along the lines of "Rose… no… please… don't…die… no…"

She sat up quickly to grab onto his shoulders to wake him up. His eyes opened in shock, even in the dim light she could see his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"You okay? Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly.

He shook his head "Not today…"

She hesitantly nodded her head, not wanting to push him on his fears.

They laid together for several minutes, silent, just watching each other, until he broke it.

"I want you," he said suddenly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Now?"

"Yes, now."

She wasn't sure that sex was a good idea at that point, but she went with it as he breathed into her ear "I need you…"

She sucked on his lip, his tongue, until his words melted away in a groan.

He pushed up against her. She felt the length of him, rubbing up against her, teasing as he made her quiver with no more than just a touch.

"Please…" she begged, gliding her hand along his waist, getting lower and closer to his manhood. She grasped his ass, gently pulling him closer to her.

Without hesitation, he finally pushed inside of her in one smooth motion, she thought that she would collapse in a puddle of moaning, panting need. She screamed as he began to thrust, and it wasn't fast nor slow.

He reached down, mid thrust, touched her in that one spot he knew so well. One flick and roll of his finger, and she found herself in a spiral. Her lower abdomen exploded as everything released at once. She felt herself clenching, pulsing along his length, couldn't stop herself as she writhed, pulled her teeth back in a satisfied grimace.

She felt him jerk inside her and felt the cool seep of his release.

She panted, trying to catch her breath.

Dimitri pulled out of her and collapsed.

They both lay there, not talking, just breathing. She curled up against him.

The next words he said shocked her to the very core, "Marry me."

* * *

**A/N – …Yay?**

**I don't think I have ever said what Christian and Tasha's relationship is in this story, but they are second cousins not auntie and nephew (about the same age, Tasha is older… and older than Dimitri too) they don't know each other, but I'm not going to get into the details.**


	23. I Swear To God

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

_Previously on Battle Scars_

The next words Dimitri said shocked Rose to the very core, "Marry me."

* * *

**Chapter 23**

Rose immediately jumped out of bed, and turned to face him. His arm was now dangling off the bed, and his face had a look of surprise. His proposal was more like a statement than a question. It was like an order… a demand… a command… an instruction.

"What?" Dimitri asked.

"Did you just?" she questioned.

"Say let's get married?" Dimitri answered with another question

"Yeah?" she exclaimed.

"Do you not want to marry me?" He asked, his tone seemed to grow more and more tense.

"Dimitri…" Rose replied, she bent down to meet his face "I love you… I love you with all my heart… I fought death, just to be with you… but marriage… this isn't the right time… and you should know that if I wanted you to propose you should have at least done it with a ring and not right after sex."

"Do you want a ring? 'Cause I can go get one now," Dimitri suggested.

Rose sighed, she knew Dimitri was proposing for all the wrong reasons, she almost died and he was scared that he'd lose her, "Dimitri… This isn't the right time, you are only asking me because you're scared you will lose me… but you won't! I love you and I will always be with you no matter what happens."

"So is that a no?"

She met his eyes, her heart breaking at the wanting behind his gaze. Not the loving or passionate wanting she was so used to seeing in his eyes. This wanting was filled with desperation, enlarging his pupils and darkening his irises from the deep brown that melted her heart to an almost black hue she wasn't familiar with. This wasn't her Dimitri.

"It wouldn't change anything, Dimitri. If we went to Vegas, or city hall tomorrow… It wouldn't change anything."

"It would change everything." He spat, standing up to turn away from her.

"I still would have almost died this week."

He cringed and turned away again.

"Do you really think getting married is going to fix this?" She countered.

"Apparently we're never going to find out."

"Don't say that," she practically cried, trying to remind herself that he was hurting and was simply lashing out because he was in pain, trying to convince herself that this wasn't going to turn into now or never, that she wasn't going to lose him.

He scoffed, turning to face her, his eyes dark and stormy. "I'm not the one saying no."

She was on her feet in an instance, storming up to him. "Do you really think I want to say no?! I freaking love you, Dimitri. _I_ want to get married. To you."

"Then why are you saying no?" His eyes calmed ever so slightly, a sign that he was actually hearing what she was saying.

"Was your proposal even a question? Or a statement? You just said marry me" she asked him clearly.

He climbed out of bed, stomped into the bathroom, and closed the bathroom door.

Rose groaned and fell onto the bed, if he had asked properly and not because of the accident, she would have definitely said yes. Spending a lifetime with Dimitri was out of the question, but right now she doubted his sense of judgement.

She got off the bed, changed into her clothes and left before Dimitri came out of the bathroom.

The entire drive to work was depressing, all she could think about was what had happened just a few moments ago. What a great way to start the morning, she thought to herself. She walked into the locker room, to the hustle and chaos of the morning.

There just didn't seem to be anyway of hiding herself away from the words, marriage, wedding or proposal.

"How's the wedding planning going?" she asked Lissa, who sitting on the bench with a bridal magazine in her hand.

"Somewhere…" she replied, not looking up from the magazine. Rose turned to grab her scrubs and toothbrush out of the locker and went to change.

* * *

Dimitri leaned on his desk, his body supported by his hands, he saw Rose walking across the lobby, seemingly unaffected by what occurred that very morning. He whacked the papers on his desk to the floor in anger and hung his head down. The pile of patient notes scattered all over the floor, his entire desk in disarray, however this photo him and Rose survived the maniacal fit of anger.

"Dude…" said a voice at his door.

"What do you want?" Dimitri replied angrily, recognising Adrian's voice.

"Consult… we paged you twice…"

"Fine." He fumed, following Adrian into the patient's room. The woman was pregnant, he'd say 32 weeks, her arms and legs were wrapped in bandages and there were serious burns to parts of her face.

"32 year old female, severe burns to 70% of her body and she had head trauma…" the intern presented.

"Why wasn't I called earlier?" Dimitri questioned.

"We paged you twice, Dr. Belikov" the shy intern replied.

"We need you to clear her for surgery… Here are her CT results…" the intern handed him the file of CT scans and he walked over to the light board, stared at the films.

"She has a minor bleed that should go away on its own, I want another CT after the surgery."

Dimitri, Adrian and Tasha stood in the attendings' lounge waiting for their OR to be prepped for their surgery.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Adrian exclaimed to Tasha, as she explained her situation. After a 3 day holiday to Los Angeles, Tasha had come back to pack up her stuff and ship herself to LA to join one of their friend's practice.

"You know what I mean Adrian…" Tasha sighed.

"Yes. But WHY?"

"I need a fresh start, you're here, Dimitri's here, I can't start fresh here…" she said to Adrian, she turned to Dimitri, "Dimitri, from the moment I got here, I knew I lost you… you and Rose are made for each other, and you have to remember not to go too fast because you have done the marriage thing before but she hasn't."

It was like a wave of ice cold water collapsed over him, she was right.

* * *

Rose had gotten home before Dimitri, she knew he was searching for her after his surgery, but she hid out in dermatology, knowing that it would be the last place he would look. She waited until Dimitri was in surgery before she changed and went home. She needed time. Time to think.

The house was empty when she turned the key and opened the door. She trekked up the staircase, entered her bedroom and climbed into bed.

It was hours before Dimitri came into the house, opening the door slightly. He tiptoed around the room, thinking that she was asleep.

"Are you really the type of person who wants to get married in Vegas on a whim?" She told him.

"Jesus! I thought you were asleep" he exclaimed, jumping back a few steps, "I just want to marry you," he added.

"I want that too, Dimitri. And if you're really determined to do this, if you really, actually ask me, I won't be able to say no. But I'm asking you to wait. I'm hoping you'll wait."

"I don't want to wait. If we both know we want this, why should it matter if we do it sooner rather than later."

"Because it should be special."

"I want to marry you."

"I know. Me too. But we need to wait, Dimitri. We need to give our marriage the right start."

"Okay," he conceded, his eyes flashing with defeat before they shifted away from hers.

"Hey," she prompted, practically mirroring him as she lifted her hands to cup his neck and chin. "I'm going to say yes one day, Dimitri. When you ask, I'll say yes. Whether it's next month or next year, I'll say yes. I promise."

His eyes shifted back to hers and he leaned in to press a light kiss against her lips. And when he pulled away he cracked a hint of a smile. "It definitely won't be next year."

* * *

Dimitri jolted awake to the sound of the bedroom door swinging open roughly, it's hinges squeaking in protest before crashing loudly into the wall behind it.

"Eddie is moving in?!"

Dimitri groaned and buried his face into the back of Rose's head. "I take it you didn't tell her about Eddie..." he whispered in her ear.

Rose shook her head, her eyes remaining shut as she ignored her roommate.

"Rose!" Mia whined, stepping into the room, unaffected by the fact that Rose and Dimitri were curled up together in the bed, or by the fact that she was only wearing a towel. "Eddie is moving in?" She repeated. "To this house?"

Dimitri grumbled to himself. Normally he didn't mind the roommates. But today, in this moment, he minded the roommates. He minded a great deal. "We were asleep a minute ago," he pointed out.

"Yeah, and I was _naked_, in the bathroom, when Eddie just walked in. I'm lucky I didn't come out of the shower to find him peeing all over the seat!"

Rose giggled, effectively ending her facade of pretending to still be asleep. "He knows about the bathroom rules, Mia."

"But why is he here?" She whined, collapsing onto the bed, the towel only loosely held up around her.

"And we're up," Dimitri muttered, rolling away from his girlfriend and heading into their bathroom.

Rose rolled onto her back before responding to her roommate. "He's here because I asked him to move in. He's taking Mason's room."

"I don't understand. What's wrong with where he was living before?"

"I don't know where he was living before."

Mia leaned over, burying her face in her hands. "Probably a whore house," she muttered.

Rose giggled again, sitting up against her pillows.

"I can't have him living in the room next door, Rose. It's weird."

"People are what matters, Mia. And Eddie is one of our people. We can't just leave him out in the cold when we have a room for him."

Mia paused, turning her head slightly to the side as she stared at Rose in a way that could only be described as suspicious. "_People are what matters_? You don't like people. Is this about your mother?"

"No," she said quickly, trying to think how to explain this to her angry roommate. "I had a near death...whatever. I've got a second chance. And I'm determined to be more positive. So...people are what matters," she repeated, and then off of Mia's still suspicious stare, "Paint with all the colours of the wind..."

"Oh, I get it," Mia whispered, shifting to get up. "You're crazy now." She slowly backed out of the room.

"I'm alive!"

"Yeah, okay..."

Rose laughed as Mia closed the door behind her.

* * *

They strolled casually into the hospital hand in hand, not caring about the stares and glances that were being shot their way. As much as they wanted to hold hands forever, his pager interrupted their hand holding session. He looked down at his pager and groaned.

"Trauma," he whined, not letting go of her hand.

"Go." She ordered with a smile, he bent over and kissed her lips before they went their separate ways. She walked alone towards the elevator, where the staring contest continued. It was strange, they never usually get so much attention from just walking into the hospital together. She scanned the area, and once her eyes landed on every one of theirs, they looked away and got back to working.

She walked into the locker room, and relaxed as no one was staring at her. When she reached her locker, Eddie approached her.

"If you were to get engaged… do you know when?" He whispered.

Rose's jaw dropped and curiousity kicked in.

"No?" she replied, drawing out her answer to make Eddie tell her more.

"There is a pool going… your engagement date, I have a 50 for the next month,"

"What are you morons doing?" Alto boomed entering the room, noticing that his interns were all gathered around Rose.

"Nothing… Sir," Eddie said quickly, standing up straighter and walking back to his locker.

"None of you are getting assignments, your intern exam is in 2 weeks and you are to spend most of those days studying, understood? I will be watching all of you!"

Everyone around the room, groaned in disappointment. No cutting for 2 weeks?

* * *

Night flew around quickly, plunging the city into darkness once again. After a full day of studying for her intern exam, Rose finally was able to go home without Alto glaring at her every few minutes. She met Dimitri down in the lobby.

His posture reminded her of the time she found out about his secret wife, one who was so leggy and fabulous. His laptop was on sitting on his lap and his duster coat wrapped around his muscles. His hair brushed back, yet still hanging down to his neck.

When she reached him, he closed his laptop and stuffed it into the bag on the side. Everything he was doing was exactly the same as that night she discovered his darkest secret. She stood there staring at the floor, waiting for someone or something from Dimitri's past to show up and ruin everything that she built with him. Especially trust.

She could feel his eyes on her, she couldn't move, she wasn't looking at him either. He didn't question it, and she was glad. Seconds past and nothing happened. She gave a sigh of relief and turned to face him.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, she nodded in response and smiled. She linked her arm into his, and they walked out together.

"I was irrational," He said suddenly, "And we would have regretted getting married in Vegas."

She looked at him and shook her head. "We would have regretted the way we did it, not that we did it. And I need you to know that I wanted to say yes."

"I know."

"Really?"

He nodded. "It was the right decision. I'm glad you could be the strong one."

"By the way... I already have tons of plans underway. I just can't decide on fireworks or a plane pulling a banner behind it for the actual question," he added.

Now he was mocking her.

"Or!" He said excitedly. "We could go to a game and I could get them to write it on the jumbo-tron."

She pursed her lips. "You know how I promised to say yes when you did ask?"

"Mmm-hmm." He nodded.

"If you do any of those things I won't be saying yes."

Dimitri laughed. "I guess I'll have to go for the sky writing..."

"Dimitri, I swear to god..."

* * *

**A/N – Sorry! Ahaha it wasn't the right time, they need more time. This chapter wasn't as good, I rushed it… and its short too... and I am behind, trying to bank chapters.**

**Also I'm not trying to promote unsafe sex here, so to clarify, he wears a condom and she is on the pill too. I just don't write him you know putting it on or her waking up in the morning to swallow a pill. **

**ANNDD Because the reviews have been dwindling lately, do you guys find this story starting to get a little boring? Because my entire plan involves this story going up to about 40 chapters… but if you guys find it needs to end I can slow it down now and end it at bout 30.**

**Happy Valentines Day :) **


	24. The Difference A Day Makes

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – Sorry for the wait…**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

Rose snuggled against Dimitri's naked body in the bathtub. The soft lavender scent seeped into their noses as they breathed in the gentle aroma of their body wash.

They were making new memories… a memory that wasn't tainted by the remnants of Rose's insecurities.

The bubbles that filled the tub slowly dissipated into the water. The tub grew clear but none of them made a motion to move. His arms still wrapped around her body, not wanting to let go.

She and Dimitri didn't need to be in to the hospital until late morning, and she wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to spend more time with Dimitri.

The ringing of her phone, and she sighed, her cell had already rung several times. Obviously whoever was calling her wasn't about to stop trying. With a defeated sigh, she unlatched Dimitri's arm from around her middle. He moaned his unhappiness in having her leave his embrace and clutched to her.

"Seriously," Rose muttered, struggling to stay out of his grip. She smacked his hands playfully and he let go.

The phone rang again, and Rose huffed, wrapping a towel around her body, trudging over to the bedroom and fishing her cell phone out of her purse.

"What?" She hissed into the phone.

"Finally! What the hell took you so long. I'm in hell, Rose. I need you to save me."

"What's going on? And what's that noise?"

"It's the shower."

"You're calling me while you're in the shower?"

"No!" Lissa hissed. "I'm hiding out in the bathroom; the shower is my cover. They're invading my apartment, Rose. I have nowhere else to go!"

"Who's invading your apartment?" Rose asked.

"Mother and Mama!" Lissa exclaimed. "Mother _and _Mama are here, Rose! What am I supposed to do?"

"Mother _and_ Mama?" Rose repeated. "I don't understand..."

"My mother and Ozera's Mama!"

"Oh, _Mama_... Right... Why are they here?"

"To plan the freaking wedding!"

"I thought you were planning that?"

"That's what I thought!"

"Okay, Lissa, seriously, you need to stop yelling. I can hear you perfectly fine."

"I'm freaking out, Rose. I'm freaking out. The wedding is in 2 weeks and they want to change everything! I need you. How soon can you come and rescue me?"

"I'll page you to the hospital…" Rose smiled to herself, laughing at her friend's fear.

* * *

Lissa stomped into the intern locker room, her face seemed to be fuming in rage and anger.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked.

"Mother and Mama want a church wedding!" she said frustrated

"What's wrong with a church wedding?"

"A church wedding with hundreds of people… I wanted a small outdoor wedding, simple, elegant, not a wedding of massive proportions. Just the most important people in my life, and they want to invite cousins I have never even met before!"

"Then put your foot down, make them change their minds, threaten them with no wedding or better yet no grandchildren! That should throw them off," Rose suggested.

* * *

Dimitri entered the ER, he was immediately hailed down by Christian, and he followed him to the emergency bay.

"What have we got?" He asked the paramedic pushing the gurney into the ER. After a flurry of information, Dimitri pointed his pen light in the man's eye.

"Dimitri, I need a consult!" Christian called over, Dimitri rushed to the other man's side.

"… After he was hit by the driver" the paramedic relayed.

"I didn't hit him! He jumped in front of me!" the driver tried to explain.

"Swerved after he didn't hit the man and side swiped a telephone pole,"

"He came out of nowhere!"

"Someone should get that man a blood alcohol test because he was driving like a MAD MAN!" the other guy yelled.

A continuous stream of bickering between the two men continued. Each yelling abusive and offensive words at each other.

"Ass." Adrian added, joining Dimitri at the driver.

"Pathetic." Dimitri commented.

* * *

Dimitri and Adrian cooped up together on a 5 hour surgery was taking its toll. Throughout the surgery Dimitri and Adrian quarrelled over their past, even bringing up Tasha.

"You know I was going to apologise for decking you, but now I'm just going to play it over and over in my head and enjoy it."

A sudden squirt of blood erupted from the man's artery.

"Damn it!" Dimitri exclaimed.

"Can I get 4.0 Vicryl?" they said at the same time.

"No matter what I do to mend my mistakes you are always going to find something from me to hate. To you I will always be the charity case the Belikov's took in." He seethed, he threw the stitch in and stopped the bleeder "Poor Adrian, his filthy rich parents doesn't want him. Done."

"You threw the stitch already?"

"Yeah."

_Respect._ Dimitri said in his mind. That was what he would have said when they were younger, they faced many things together. The confronted Dimitri's sister's boyfriends together, had so much fun walking up to them, dishing out a series of threats if they hurt his sister.

_I will personally stick that guy's balls in a blender and make him drink it._

* * *

After the surgery Dimitri and Adrian approached the driver's wife together.

"He has a long recovery ahead of him, he severely damaged his facial nerves, shattered his inner ear and lost a great deal of blood." Dimitri explained.

"Oh my god!" the woman cried.

"But he'll be fine!" Adrian said quickly, dismissing the woman's worries of her husband. "He'll be in a lot of pain but he will be fine."

"Oh my god… Thank you!" She sighed, "Thank you both so much"

"Thank Dr. Ivashkov, that kind of bleed not many surgeons could have handled. He saved your husband's life."

Adrian turned to him curiously. Why was Dimitri giving him all the credit?

"Would you like to see your husband now?" Dimitri continued, pretending to be oblivious to Adrian's smile.

"Yes!" the woman cried, following the nurse to her husband's bedside.

"You know that is the first ever compliment you have given me?!" Adrian said happily.

"It wasn't a compliment! It was a simple state of fact!" Dimitri denied.

"See why do you do that? Why can't you give someone a compliment?"

"Because if you ask for a compliment it's not a compliment. Are you asking for a compliment?"

"Yes!"

"Then it's not a compliment"

They walked through the hallway to change back into the casual gear, their shift having ended during their surgery.

"Thank you for being there by the way…" he suddenly said. Putting away his stethoscope and lab coat into the attending's locker.

"When?" Adrian asked, confused.

"When Rose was… you know…"

"You would have done the same…" Adrian insisted.

Dimitri laughed involuntarily at the thought of Adrian settling down and crying over a woman.

"What's so funny?" Adrian questioned.

"Nothing!" Dimitri chuckled and walked away.

"Dimitri!" Adrian called after him, "Ambrose's? Later?"

Dimitri stopped and turned staring at his former best friend in the eye, searching for any sign of a joke. When he found none, "Sure"

* * *

Lissa tipped the hospital on its roof in search for Rose. A few minutes ago, she stood in the waiting room, staring at the two women conversing with each other. She had immediately recognised them as her mother and Christian's mother, she had turned at raced out of the lobby the second they noticed her presence.

"Help ME!" she yelled, eyeing Rose and Mia down the hall. The two surgeons turned to see Lissa racing down the hall to meet them.

"What's going on?" Mia asked.

"They're HERE!" She exclaimed in fear. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Who?"

"THEM!" She emphasised, nodding her head slightly, trying to get Rose to remember.

"Ohhh… Them…" Rose realised.

"Who?"

"We'll tell you on the way…" Lissa explained, pushing the two of them forward.

"On the way wher-"

"Vasilisa!" a voice cried behind them. Lissa stopped and stiffened. Her eyes were begging, and screaming, 'save me'

The mothers approached them swiftly, joining them in no time at all.

"Wedding Dress!" they said together gleefully.

"Are these your bridesmaids?" her mother questioned, glancing over at Rose and Mia, who mustered up the biggest smile they could.

"Come along!" Christian's mother said before Lissa could speak up.

Rose stepped into the bridal boutique and was immediately overwhelmed by the monstrosity of the amount of wedding dresses. It was like being lost in a sea of white. Rose bit down thoughtfully on her lower lip as she searched her way through aisle after aisle. Rack after rack of fancy, white dresses that surrounded her.

She definitely felt bad for her best friend with her mother and mother-in-law standing between her and the exit, forcing more and more dresses on her.

But it didn't mean she wasn't going to take advantage of the situation.

Her lips curled up into a smile as she spotted _exactly_ what she was looking for. She took the dress of the rack and hurried back to the dressing area.

"Lissa," she called, "I found a perfect dress for you!"

Jill snorted when she saw the dress Rose was holding, taking in the long sleeves, _very_ poofy shoulders and a skirt so round it was almost horizontal at the waist.

Lissa stepped out of the change room, Mia on her heels, looking just as thrilled to be there as she had when they had arrived two hours before. She was wearing at least the fiftieth dress the mothers had picked out for her. "I swear to God, Rose. If I could move in this thing, I would kill you."

Rose laughed. The dress Lissa currently had on was skin tight almost to the knees, where it seemed to flip outward. "Well, I think you should try it on."

"Why don't you try it on," Lissa shot back at her.

"Lissa," her mother chastised, "Be nice to your friend. She's only trying to help."

Lissa looked like she was about to reply harshly to her mother, but Mama Ozera appeared from the racks of wedding dressed, and she forced herself to bite her tongue. "It's taking longer than I had expected to find...the perfect dress," she managed to say. "I think we should start looking for bridesmaid dresses too...so we don't run out of time."

"What a wonderful idea," Mama said, smiling. She motioned to Lissa's mother. "Let's go and pick some out."

"Now who's laughing," Lissa said when they were out of ear shot.

Rose shrugged. "There's about a million more wedding dresses in this store than bridesmaid dresses. "You're still going to suffer."

"This isn't about suffering," Mia spoke up. "This is exciting. Why can't you two be excited? This is fun!"

"How bad could it possibly be?" Rose questioned, looking to Jill, who shrugged.

"Not that bad."

How wrong they were.

Ten minutes later, Rose stood in front of a mirror, staring in horror at the sight before her.

Pink.

Ruffles.

A train.

Poofy shoulders.

She made a face.

"Come on, Rose," Mia called, banging on the door. "Hurry it up in there. We're waiting."

"I am not coming out looking like this," Rose called back. "Get me something else to put on."

"Not a chance. We need to see it."

"Please?"

"No. Get your ass out here, Hathaway." Mia demanded.

After a bucket load of angry shouting through the walls, Rose finally lost the battle and emerged from the change rooms. She trudged out to the giant mirror and stood alongside Mia who was wearing a different dress, one that looked a thousand times better than the one she was forced into.

"Why do you get the better one?" Rose asked.

"Because I'm the better bridesmaid" Mia replied teasingly.

Soon after Lissa appeared from the dressing room again with another ridiculous dress, "THAT IS IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Lissa shouted, "THIS IS _MY_ WEDDING! _I_ GET TO DECIDE MY DRESS! _I_ GET TO DECIDE WHERE! NOT _YOU_ AND NOT _YOU_!" She pointed at the mothers, "I also decide the bridesmaid dresses!"

Rose smirked at her friend's outburst, proud of her friend courage to stand up to herself in front of her in-law. Lissa's mother stared at her daughter in horror, surprised by her daughter sudden surge of anger and authority. Christian's mother's face was neutral and turned into a smile. Lissa stared at her future in-law curiously.

"You are definitely the right woman for my son." Mama Ozera said suddenly, grinning wider than before. She waved her hand towards the salesperson, and she pulled out an array of dresses ones that were more stunning and elegant than the previous ones.

Lissa was shocked. Actually shocked was an understatement.

Mama Ozera stepped up to the hanger of dresses and picked out one, she handed it over to Lissa who was still staring at the woman in horror.

"Try it on." She said to Lissa, who now held the dress in her hands. The dress was simple, strapless not puffy sleeves. Lissa smiled in realisation, and dashed back into the change rooms. She came out a few minutes later, the dress was beautiful, the top of the dress was embedded with small crystals, it flowed down to her feet, pooling around them just slightly giving it the extra length it needed. It was so simple, and from the look on Lissa's face, the dress was exactly what she wanted. She walked over the new batch of bridesmaid dresses that the salesperson had taken out for her and picked out the dress that she saw in the bridal magazine and handed it over to Rose. She grabbed a second and third set of the dress and gave them to Mia and Jill too.

The three of them rushed into the change rooms happily and this time, willingly.

After a few more dress tries and a seamstress session, they were finally able to leave. Lissa was jumping of joy at finding the perfect dress and bridesmaid dress all in one go. They made their way back to the hospital with Lissa still reeling about how perfect and exciting her wedding was going to be. She continued while walking through the lobby of the hospital and to the locker room. The sound of someone's phone ringing interrupted Lissa's never ending banter about the wedding. Rose recognised the ringtone and realised it was her own. She raked though her bag and pulled out the vibrating cell phone and read the text message.

_Ambrose's with Adrian. Won't be home till late. _

Adrian? Since when did Adrian and Dimitri become friends again?

Rose packed up her stuff, said goodbye to Lissa and made her way home.

* * *

Several hours later, Dimitri finally made it home at 2 am in the morning. He stumbled into the doorway, holding up a drunk Adrian.

"Ahhh! My co-founder! It's so good to see you again!" Adrian slurred as he spotted Rose and Mia on the couch, with a deck of flashcards in their hands.

"Co-founder?" Dimitri asked.

"Of the dirty mistresses club!" Adrian laughed, swinging his arm off Dimitri's shoulders and dropping onto the couch, beginning to mumble things that were incomprehensible.

Rose shrugged, but laughed at Dimitri's scrunched face. Dimitri didn't argue and followed Adrian's actions at falling onto the couch with exhaustion.

As soon as the room was quiet again, Adrian pushed himself off the couch.

"I need another beer…" he mumbled, but didn't get any more than a few steps before dropping to the floor and groaned, "Maybe tomorrow"

And they erupted in laughter.

* * *

**A/N – Sorry again about the wait. Was really stuck on this chapter. Hope you enjoyed. I will try bank as many chaps as I can, I have sections written already up to 30 but they are nowhere NEAR finished so yeah.**

**~Review ;)**


	25. If You Can, I Can

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 25**

Dimitri turned over on the bed, facing Rose's side. She sat upright a textbook in hand and a highlighter in the other. He grinned at the cute pucker of her lips as she studied. He sat up slightly, just enough to kiss her neck… her collarbone… and her lips.

"Dimitri!" she scolded, "I have an exam in 12 hours! I need to study."

"I'll help you study…" he practically purred into her ear, he lifted the text book off her lap and climbed on top of her.

"Are you my textbook now?" she giggled.

"I am whatever you want me to," he whispered seductively.

"In that case, I found something important," she said playfully, drawing a faint line of highlighter on his nose.

"Oh you are so going to get it!" he laughed, he used his knees to launch him forward to meet her lips.

* * *

"That's time, people. Please place your pencil down on the table in front of you and stay seated. I will collect the tests before you are allowed to leave," the instructor announced.

A series of groans erupted from various parts of the room. Rose looked up and she sighed, grateful the test was finished. She passed her test papers to the instructor as he walked by. After he walked by, she met eyes with Mason, who offered her a shrug and a wry smile. She returned the smile, revelling in the feeling of being done. No more studying and stress, she couldn't change what had happened now.

"Okay, people, you can go."

Rose filed out of the room, only to be pulled out of the line as she tried to walk by.

"How did it go? Did it go okay? Did you know the answer to thirty-three, cause I wasn't sure. First I thought A for sure, but then when I went back, I thought maybe C. I'm not sure. Do you know?"

Rose had to laugh at her best friend's antics. "Lissa, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lissa gave her an incredulous stare as they made their way out of the test room, bumping into their three fellow interns. "How could you not know?"

"Know what?" Mia asked.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "The answer to thirty-three."

Mia nodded. "The nephrology question? I wasn't sure either. I chose A."

"Damn," Lissa muttered. "I was thinking A, but then I changed to C."

Mia thought for a moment, and then she nodded. "You may be right, Lissa. It definitely could have been C." Mason and Eddie nodded their agreement. They turned to Rose.

She shook her head. "I still don't know which question you're talking about. There was more than one neph question."

"She didn't have trouble with thirty-three?" Eddie asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Evidently not," Lissa replied.

"Oh, well then," Mia said. "We shouldn't be seen speaking to her."

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Eddie with a smirk towards Rose that told her he, along with her, had no idea what question they were talking about, but he was going along with it anyway. She shook her head at him and he quirked his eyebrows in response. They turned to go.

"Hey, this so isn't fair," Rose called. "Come on guys. Seriously? Lissa!"

Lissa turned to her person, a slight smile forming "I'm sorry Rose, but I have a wedding to prepare for."

"And I suppose that in preparation you still expect me to throw your bachelorette party?"

Lissa only nodded. "Of course. I'll see you at seven. Come on, guys," she added to the rest of the group, who turned to follow her down the hall.

"Lissa!" She called, but to no response. "Mia! Eddie!" Mia glanced at her with a laughing smile and Eddie simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Mason!"

Mason paused and turned to face her. "Apparently we're not talking to you, Rose." He shrugged. "Sorry." And with that he turned and hurried to catch up.

Rose laughed. "You guys suck!" She called after them.

* * *

Dimitri approached her after her test, she was sitting alone at the nurses' station, with a massive pile of charts on her left.

"Charting right after an exam?"

"Yup…" she replied popping the 'p' with the most lacking amount of enthusiasm he had ever come across.

"How did the exam go?" He asked

"Apart from the fact that my friends are not talking to me because I didn't know what question 33 was, it was okay," She replied

"So, anyway, I have to get going. I guess I won't see you till the wedding tomorrow, or are you planning on crashing my party?" She asked jokingly.

"Oh, right, I have to tell you. Apparently Christian's best man bailed, so he asked me to step in. I'm throwing my own party tonight."

Rose laughed. "You're throwing a bachelor party?"

He nodded.

"Where? In the trailer?" She joked.

"Oh, haha," he said. "Make fun of the trailer. If you must know, I'm having it at Ambrose's."

"Ambrose's? Not very exclusive." She raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Hey, give me a break. He asked me like five minutes before surgery. A little short notice."

Rose chuckled. "What's the guest list like?"

Dimitri shrugged. "I'm up to two."

"Who?"

He smiled. "Me, and Christian."

She laughed again. "Dimitri, you two don't count."

"Then I got nothing."

* * *

Rose chugged down another shot of tequila, she desperately needed the nulling effects from the alcohol. Lissa's whining of what her vows should be, dug holes in her head.

"How the hell can you pack so much love for a person into one paragraph?!" Lissa exclaimed, staring at the blank page in front of her.

"Just write something already!" Rose groaned, it had been this way since the beginning of the bachelorette party. Just them sitting around Lissa and her stupid, empty piece of paper.

"Yeah! Just write something and let's get on with the party games! We haven't even started playing and most of us are hitting the point of drunkenness!" Mia whined.

* * *

The party of four winded down after 3 hours of extremely boring party games, involving a whole package of toilet paper that was all wrapped around Rose. Everyone had found somewhere to sleep, much to her dismay Lissa dropped dead onto her bed before Rose had a chance to get there. Mia went back to her room and Jill stayed in Eddie's room. Which left Rose to the couch. Rose shuffled in her toilet paper dress to the door, which rang only a few moments ago.

Dimitri stood on the other side, a drunken smirk on his face as he saw Rose.

"You have a key you know," Rose declared as she opened to door for him, "What are you doing here?"

"We need to take advantage of the Maid of Honour and Best Man situation, it's destiny!" He slurred, stumbling inside.

"I take it was a good party."

He nodded. "I guess. Adrian came. Christian left soon after. Then it was just me and Adrian. He suggested another round, though I'm pretty sure it was more than one more round." His pressure on her relaxed as he leaned his head back on the couch, his eyes remaining closed, an arm still draped loosely over her shoulder.

Rose shook her head. "You and Mark got drunk together again?"

Dimitri shrugged. "Yep, we did. I guess I'm forgiving him. Can't stay mad forever, especially when what he did led me to you."

Rose smiled at his words, knowing he may not know or remember what he was saying, but it meant something to hear them.

"Now can we get to the whole Best Man, Maid of Honour thing?"

Rose laughed. "Dimitri, it's like three in the morning and you're drunk."

He barely shrugged. "So?"

She rolled her eyes. "Are you up to the Best Man, Maid of Honour thing, Comrade?"

He seemed to contemplate this for a few moments. "No, probably not. But can we tell people I was if they ask?"

She had to shake her head at him. He was drunk and barely conscious. And still he was worried someone would think less of him as a man. "Of course," she answered, wanting to ask him who he thought would be asking about their sex life the next day, but refrained.

"Good, can we go to bed now?"

Rose smiled. "I hate to tell you this, but the couch is bed tonight."

"Why?"

She laughed. "Cause Lissa usurped my bed."

Dimitri moaned in disapproval, but nodded.

"Now come on, Dimitri," she said as she pulled him down beside her, pushing her back up against his chest and wrapping his arms around her. She smiled as he tightened his embrace by himself. She lay quietly as he shifted against her, adjusting to the couch, and then slowly drifted off to sleep. She then let his even breath against the back of her neck lull her to sleep as well. She didn't wake up again until morning.

* * *

Dimitri hurried through the hall towards the locker room, hoping to catch Rose before she left for the wedding. He had finally succeeded in removing Christian from surgery, leaving the groom to shower and change before driving to the land. So far Dimitri thought he was doing an outstanding job as best man. He had stood as a groomsman at both of his sisters' weddings, but he had never been best man before. He had always assumed he would be Adrian's one day, assuming the plastic surgeon ever got married. But now, this may be his only shot.

He quickly headed for the intern locker room, his heart thudding as it had since he had heard the preliminary results had been released to the interns.

Turning the last corner, he arrived at the door and reached a hand out, only to have the door open in front of him. Rose's fellow interns flooded past him. Rose smiled at him and handed Mia the dress, saying she would meet them at the wedding. And then they were gone, and the door swung shut, leaving them in silence.

Then she smiled. "I passed," she said quietly, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

He let go of a breath he didn't know he had been holding as relief swept over him in waves. His lips curled up into a happy smile. "Good," he said, pulling her into a bear hug; wrapping his arms tightly around her. "Congratulations."

"Thank-you," she whispered as she returned the hug.

"Proud of you," he whispered, following Rose at making as less noise in a quiet room. She giggled.

He reached one hand up to the back of her head, and pulled her close, meeting her lips with his.

She quickly responded, pulling closer, one hand gripping around his neck, the other wandering down to the hem of his shirt. She groaned in frustration as her hands slid under his jacket to meet a tucked in shirt.

Dimitri's hands were doing wonders as he rubbed them over the bare skin on the exposed part of her back, his fingers tangling in her hair. In her ploy to un-tuck his shirt, she barely noticed him gently steering her backwards, pushing them against the lockers. Up against a solid surface, Dimitri's body pushing against hers, Rose moaned into his mouth as the kiss deepened once more. His fingers were working the tie on the back of her dress when she realized what was happening.

"Dimitri," she tried to speak, and he moved his mouth away from hers to slowly work his lips down to her jaw and neck. She tried not to moan. "Dimitri," she said again.

"Mmm," he mumbled, as his assault continued.

She was breathing hard as she reached behind her head to disengage his hands and pull them around to rest in front of her. He lifted his head up, panting as he stared at his own hands, clutched tightly in hers.

She almost laughed at his questioning expression and leaned forward to place a quick kiss on his lips. "We can't do this now," she muttered.

"But we need to celebrate," he whispered, leaning into her, his lips coming dangerously close to hers.

She shook her head. "Yes, we do, but not now."

He muttered something incoherent and leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. He was still breathing hard.

She smiled, her lips so close to his. "We have to get to the wedding."

He nodded against her, but made no move to leave.

She closed her eyes and breathed in, deep and refreshing. How her life had changed. Everything seemed okay for now. She had passed her last official test. By the end of the week she would be a full-fledged surgical resident. And Dimitri would be there, celebrating with her. Happy for her. Proud of her. And most importantly, he would be there. He would simply be there, with her.

"So," he was saying. "We have to get to our land, get through the wedding and the reception, and then," he raised an eyebrow suggestively, "We can go home and celebrate."

She was still laughing as he took her hand and led her out of the locker room.

* * *

When Lissa and Christian approached Dimitri to ask whether they could get married on his land, he was a bit hesitant in letting people from the hospital see his infamous trailer. But what Lissa and Rose had done to the land was stunningly breathtaking. They had chosen just that part of the land where there as a 180 degree view of the entire city. A small arch set up just in front of it, and a few seats lined up facing the city.

A soft pink carpet rolled between the middle of the seats, petals scattered all over. The weather was perfect, the sun shone brightly behind them as it was beginning to set, especially considering the city's notorious weather of very predictable rain.

"Are you okay?" Christian's questioning words pulled Dimitri from his thoughts.

"I'm fine. You need anything?" Dimitri asked, reaching forward to adjust Christian's bow tie. "Need a mint? Getaway car?" He asked jokingly, happy with his best man skills when he made Christian smile.

Christian grinned. "You really are a good best man."

Dimitri smiled. "I sure am." They both laughed.

Everyone that was invited started gathering around and took their seats. Filling up the not so many seats available. Once everyone was situated a moment of silence rolled over them, and Dimitri and Christian took their places. The soft music of the violinist began to fill the area. Mia walked down first, followed shortly by Jill, Rose came down after that and gave Dimitri and huge smile before taking her place on her side of the arch.

The music intensified just the slightest bit, if it wasn't so quiet the volume would go unnoticed but Lissa was nowhere to be seen, she should have followed Rose but she wasn't there. Rose glanced over at Dimitri in worry, but she relaxed as she saw Lissa stand at the end of the aisle and making her way down.

The wedding ceremony was underway, and as Lissa and Christian read their vows and said their I do's, She glanced over at Dimitri who was standing behind Christian, a big smile on his face as he mouthed the words 'I love you' to her, making her blush in the middle of the ceremony.

Moments later, the violinist began with the closing procession. She put a smile on her face, and with Mia and Mason in toe, followed them back up the aisle. They stood at the back of the wedding for a few minutes revelling in the beauty that she and Lissa had worked so hard on making the place look beautiful.

Lissa waved her over to take pictures with the wedding party, which consisted of their group of five. Dimitri stood next to Alto as picture after picture was taken, all of them at the mercy of the photographer who made them smile for well over a half hour.

* * *

Rose and Dimitri arrived at the reception hall (which was actually the hall above Ambrose's bar) at around seven thirty with all the others. Christian's family, Lissa's family, the hospital family all gathered in the same hall. Lissa was kind enough to seat the wedding party at a round table, where they could all eat together, instead of putting them all in a row on a stage, which Rose would have found mortifying. And this way, she got to sit with her boyfriend, and he could hold her crap in his suit pockets.

"Congratulations," Dimitri said as he reached for his wine glass and held it up in the air. The others followed suit, and they toasted the newly married couple.

After dinner had been served, the cake had been cut, speeches had been given, and more toasts had been made by family and friends, Rose looked to Dimitri and smiled. She was happy for her friend she really was. But she wanted it now. It was as if her best friend's wedding had some sort of hidden symbolism. If they could do it. She could do it.

"Wanna dance with me?" Rose asked, smiling at him.

He grinned back at her and took her hand. "Sure."

They walked onto the hardwood dance floor, finding a spot with a nice little space cushion from the others who danced around them. Rose wrapped her arms around Dimitri's neck and pressed her lips to his. "Love you," she whispered.

Dimitri smiled and pulled her closer. "I love you, too. So much," he said, breathing her in as they swayed back and forth to the music under the low lighting of the dance floor. He buried his nose into her curls, which were starting to relax a little, so they rested gently on her bare shoulders. She looked beautiful.

Rose closed her eyes and brushed her cheek against Dimitri's, enjoying the time spent with him. It had been a long, eventful, fun day, and getting the chance to be with Dimitri was always a good way to soak in the day, whether dancing with him at a wedding, or relaxing with him in their bed.

It was a good day. Scratch that. It was amazing.

* * *

**A/N – Hopefully I can stay on track! Wrote this chap right after posting the last one. Phew! **


	26. Confrontations

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 26**

Rose was rocking herself on the couch in the living room, hugging the bottle of Tequila she had bought.

_His mother is coming… His mother is coming… His mother is coming…_ She chanted in her mind, trying hide away the feeling of horror and fear that Dimitri's mother was coming to visit.

"She's holding that bottle of tequila like a life vest" Eddie laughed.

"Rose!" Mason said, giving Eddie a scolding look, "Don't listen to him! She's going to love you!"

"No! Mothers don't love me! Mothers like bright and bubbly and happy!" she cried shakily, "Mia! Mothers love Mia"

"They do love me! Mother's DO love Mia" Mia replied playfully, wiping down the table one last time, "Uh… I stashed all of the tequila, took all of the condoms out of the cookie jar, I also replaced all of your trashy magazines with the medical journals… okay?"

Rose nodded her head, slightly pleased by Mia's work around the house.

"Does it smell musty in here?" Mia suddenly said, sniffing the air around the room.

"My mom's place smells like peppermint, it's so homey" Mason cringed.

"My house isn't homey?!" Rose exclaimed, her face filled with sheer horror.

"I was practically raised in a hell hole, this place is a palace!" Eddie praised.

"Why isn't my house homey, Mason?" Rose wailed.

"I don't know! I can't explain it! It's just a feeling!"

"Well Mia can't FIX a feeling!"

"Stop it! She is freaking out! Tell her something that I can fix!" Mia scolded.

* * *

Rose and Mia walked along the hospital hallway, the new interns in tow. As an official resident at a teaching hospital teaching was mandatory. Rose felt good about bossing interns around, passing on Alto's teaching methods onwards, by relaying the five rules. After that the interns were following her around like puppies.

"Rose! You'll be fine! Just be you! Keep the talking to a minimum, just short short nuggets of Rose. Don't ramble, and If you start to get stuck, smile! You have a nice smile!" Mia advised, and turned to her, "Are you sure you want to wear your hair like that?"

* * *

Dimitri's mother was the mother of all mothers, raising 4 children excluding Adrian alone after his father's murder when he was 13. Becoming the man of the house at such an age had put a lot of pressure on Dimitri but being the man he was Dimitri wore the title strong and was there for his mother and sisters in their time of need.

"You are wearing an alarmingly high ponytail." Dimitri informed, eyeing Rose at the end of the hallway leaning on the nurse station with a chart in her hand.

"Your mother is coming!" she emphasized, fear on her face. Dimitri smiled and held back the urge to burst out in laughter.

"My mother will love you!" he assured, kissing her forehead.

* * *

Dimitri was frustrated, much like any son would be when his hired driver couldn't find his mother.

"What do you mean you can't find her? She's in the north terminal!" he shouted into his phone angrily.

A soft tap on his shoulder made him jump slightly, "Nevermind, I found her." And he hung up, "Mother, I had a town car waiting for you!"

"I took a bus, saved you some money," She replied, handing his suitcase over to him.

"So this cruise you're on, you just so happen to be stopping by?" he questioned, it was not strange that his mother was coming. Sonya must have reported everything to his mother after her crazy visit.

"That and I've always wanted to see the sights," she brushed off, they walked down the hallway on their way to his office.

"You have to give me more notice, Ma, I have back to back surgeries you know."

"Yeah, I know, I raised 5 doctors including Adrian, I know how busy you all are, so I know the drill, I'll just meet some of your colleagues" she responded, "Is that Adrian Ivashkov?" she asked, spotting the man at the end of the hall approaching them. Adrian's eyes widened in response.

"Mrs. Belikova!" he exclaimed in surprise, in a panicked frenzy he reached down to his pager, "Oh dang! Gotta run! Catch up later?"

"Oh! Perfect timing!" He announced as Rose started to walk in their direction, "Ma, This is Rose,"

"Rose! Finally!" His mother smiled. There was a pause before Rose responded and Mia walked just behind his mother, waving at her face to remind her to smile.

"Hi!" Rose squeaked.

"My son has been acting like a dog with his favourite bone, hiding you away," His mother grasped onto Rose's arms and pulled her in for a hug, "I hope you're free for lunch! I can't wait to dive right in to find out all about you!"

* * *

Mia moved further and further away from Rose, Dimitri and his mother, turning back every few steps to make sure that Rose was smiling.

"Rose looks weird… Does she look weird to you?" Mia asked Eddie.

"She looks like she is about to pee her pants," Eddie laughed.

"Damn… I made her hydrate!" She winced as she glanced over at where the three of them stood, Rose was bending over the slightest bit and crossing her legs over every chance she got without his mother noticing.

"Is that Dimitri's mother?" Lissa asked as she joined Mia and Eddie at the nurses' station.

"Yeah… And don't worry I have everything under control."

Lissa scoffed, "It looks like she is about to pee."

* * *

Rose had finally been able to slip away from Dimitri and his mother, attending to the incoming trauma (even managing to pee). She raced into the pit, grabbed a trauma gown on her way in and met the ambulance outside.

"Hathaway, Let's move!" Alto ordered. She guided her interns towards the ambulance and pulled out the patient. After the paramedic relayed her patient's stats, she wheeled the patient inside only to be stopped by an intern in her path.

"Dr. Hathaway?" the intern asked.

"That's me, can you please move?" Rose demanded.

"I'm Sydney Sage… My father is Jared Sage, Rose… I'm your sister."

Rose froze in her place, just staring into the eyes of her 'so-called' sister. She was speechless, struggling to find the words to say.

She pushed past Sydney and back into the ER, not turning back. Adrenaline raced through her body, as fear began to overwhelm her. Her sister was here in the hospital. And so was Dimitri's mother. What a spectacular day!

Lunch came over fast, the dread of sitting down with his mother and discussing personal matters. She met Mia at the counter, who was pushing her to buy a pot roast, apparently it being some kind of 'show lunch'

* * *

On the other side of the cafeteria, Eddie, Mason and Lissa were gathered around the table watching the events unfold, Rose sitting up so straight with her back so straight it was if her back was strapped to a pole. Eddie and Mason giggled with each other, counting the money they had on the table. Many of the nurses had approached them after hearing that Dimitri's mother was in town and put money on why they thought she was here.

The gossip mill was in overdrive and many people started to crowd into the cafeteria to watch Rose with Dimitri's mother. Mia sat down at their table and smiled at the work she had done for Rose. Eddie snickered as Rose put her fork down to lift her napkin to wipe her mouth. She stood up to leave, and flashed Dimitri's mother a smile before dashing towards the exit. It was like she didn't make it out of there fast enough. Dimitri turned to his mother and said a few words and soon after they left too.

After the trio was gone, everyone in the room groaned and got back to eating or to work. Despite all the commotion and the strange mass number of people in the room, the trio seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they had an audience.

* * *

The pit was quieter after the trauma that had rolled in in the morning. She headed down to the clinic hoping to test her luck with a surgical case. She approached the last turn of the hallway in to the clinic but stopped when she saw the interns that were inside. She spotted Sydney instantly, her blonde hair stood out of most interns.

She pushed the doors open and grabbed the nearest chart, her entrance caught the attention from all the interns that were gathered at the counter.

"What are you all looking at? Shouldn't you all be working?" she question. The interns jumped up in surprise and chaotically disbanded and attended to patients.

Sydney approached her quickly, a smile on her face. "Are you working down here today?" she asked.

"I…" she muttered, "I don't… eh…"

"Great! We have no idea what we're doing… and plus I was really hoping that we had a chance to speak!" Sydney rambled enthusiastically, "So… Yay!"

"Yay!" Rose replied with fake interest.

Throughout her time in the clinic she avoided talking to Sydney at all costs. Sydney was not someone she wanted to get to know. The fact that she was here was a symbol of her father's decision to dump her on her mother, he knew Janine's reputation and the way she treated Rose, and yet he left her. She was a mark of Jared's new bright and shiny family, that didn't include her.

After she was finished with the patient she was on, she made her way back to the counter. She overlooked the interns working on their patients, and spotted Sydney making her way over.

"Dr. Hathaway, Do you know where the thermometers are?" she asked.

"Are you really asking me where the thermometers are or are you looking for an excuse to talk to me?"

"I…" she began. But Rose interrupted.

"Simple question, Sydney, are you an idiot or a stalker?" she stared at the intern in front of her, and immediately regretted what she had just said, "I'm sorry, that was a mean thing to say, I am aware of that because I am generally not a mean person, but I'm just a person who doesn't want to know you and you are a person who is making that very difficult. So stop making it so difficult for me not to know you. Okay?"

Rose gathered the charts and moved away from her sister.

"I don't know what it is that I did to you but you know we have the same dad!" Sydney exclaimed suddenly, "So I was thinking that a simple conversation wou-"

Rose turned to face her "We do _not_ have the same dad," she emphasized, "Sydney, You and I do not have the same dad"

Sydney opened her mouth to protest, but Rose cut her off, "My dad disappeared when I was 5 years old and I never saw him again, does that sound like the dad you grew up with?"

Sydney dropped and shook her head whispering a "no"

"I'm in love with a man, and I can't commit or trust him properly, and it doesn't take a shrink to know why, I am sure you are a very nice person Sydney, but I hope you understand that you are not a girl that I want to get to know."

Sydney nodded her head in understanding and Rose repacked up her stuff and left the young girl in the clinic.

* * *

Rose settled into the chair at the nurses' station, charts stacked up on the table, queuing to be updated. She had managed to dodge both her sister and Dimitri's mother all day, but reality was starting to catch up. She pulled her hair out of the extremely high ponytail that she still had, finding it ridiculous. She eyed the OR board across from her, spotting Dimitri's name almost immediately, that meant his mother was free to roam the hospital to do whatever she liked. And that meant sitting down with her potential daughter in law alone, without the protection from Dimitri.

Like clockwork, his mother approached her at the nurses station, taking a seat next to her.

"Mrs. Belikov!" Rose greeted.

"Hello dear, I take your day has been busy?"

"Sorry yes," she apologised.

The two of them started to talk, it was small, but it developed, much to Rose's surprise she was actually comfortable with Dimitri's mother. Tears began to fall as Rose started talking about her family, her sister's presence at the hospital. Everything, including her multiple encounters with death.

Astonishingly, Rose and Olena's heart to heart talk only lasted no longer than half an hour, Rose's life packed into just merely 30 minutes. Olena wrapped her arms around the trembling Rose and let her cry through the stress of her life. The opening of doors caught their attention and Dimitri marched through.

"Ma! What did you do?!" Dimitri exclaimed, eyeing Rose's tears, "You promised you would be nice!"

"Dimitri!" Olena scolded, as Dimitri came over and took Rose into his arms.

"I'm fine Dimitri, I was just talking to your mother about everything."

"Everything?" Dimitri asked in surprise, it took him months to get Rose to be more open about her past. And his mother managed to do it in a matter of hours?

"Everything" Rose repeated in confirmation, leaning onto his chest as he passed his hand through her hair and rested it on her back. He smiled at her close proximity, letting the happiness well up.

Dimitri turned to his mother who was giving him a warm smile.

* * *

Nightfall arrived, the bright lights of the city cast down onto the hospital emergency bay. Dimitri and Olena sat on the bench outside of the hospital, she had his hand in hers, just playing with his fingers.

"I remember when your entire hand fit in the palm of mine… you grew up so fast…" she said suddenly, just staring into the eyes of her son, who was smiling so contently. It was something she hadn't seen in a very long time, even Tasha couldn't make this smile appear on his face. This place had made him so happy, Rose included.

"Mom…" he whispered, a small smile on his face.

"Your father always wanted you to have this… for the right girl…" his mother said, taking off her ring and passing it over to him.

He stared at his mother in shock, the ring was a symbol of his parents everlasting love, up until his father was murdered in his store.

"Tasha wasn't right clearly..."

"You spent less than an hour with Rose… you barely even know her"

"I know enough. She makes you happy, I can see that in your eyes. You can barely not smile when you think of her. And I know it's easier to have compassion for a good person than a murderer. And I know you are still angry about what happened with your father."

When Rose had opened up about everything, she literally meant everything, including that time the hospital had a patient, a prisoner on death row, one that was due to serve his sentence within the next five days. Dimitri had gotten angry at her for showing compassion to the patient, giving the prisoner tips on how to die with his situation. The patient had continually attempted to convince Rose to let him die within the hospital rather than in prison. After his craniotomy Rose had told him that his skull was literally exposed and hinted that he should damage that section of his head. She had dismissed the nurse at the station and watched his heart rate elevate as he smashed his head on the headboard. Dimitri was furious at her for letting him get worse and not telling him.

However Rose didn't know why Dimitri had acted that way, just assuming that Dimitri didn't want any patient of his die under his watch. But later that week, he had told her that his father was murdered right in front on him at his shop, just because the thieves wanted his watch, and his father wouldn't give it to them.

"Of course I'm angry... Aren't you?" Dimitri said.

"I still can't sleep on his side of the bed… the mattress is wearing unevenly… but no… not angry… not anymore…" She cupped Dimitri's face, tears welling up in his eyes, "Sweetie… You see things in black and white… Rose doesn't, you need a spoonful of that… you need her… She's the one."

"Yeah" Dimitri agreed, the thought of Rose bringing a smile to his face. There was only one question that lingered in his mind now.

How was he going to propose?

* * *

**A/N – Sorry for the delay, life has finally caught up to me lol.**


	27. Irreversible Mistakes

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 27**

Dimitri's mother had come and gone, staying over at her place for a few days before going back on her cruise around the world. He had taken a day off to show her around the city, taking her to his infamous trailer and showing her that section of the land that overlooked the city and the ferry boats.

_"I can see why you like it here," his mother commented, "It has ferryboats."_

The sudden presence of his mother had stirred up rumors around the hospital. Words of a ring were floating around, some even suggesting that there was a baby. The last thing wasn't true, but the first thing was. His mother had passed her engagement ring that his father had gotten for her, onto him. That was what led to what he was doing now. After recruiting Adrian's help, they stood at the end of the bed staring at the work they had done.

Rose petals were scattered across their bedroom, candles lit on the tables and dressers. A giant teddy bear sat in the middle, its giant love heart attached to its arms.

"This is stupid." Dimitri declared. The room was a cheese ball, Rose was going to hate it, "Roses for Rose."

"The flowers? Girls love this crap!" Adrian replied enthusiastically.

"It's cliché! I'm a cliché!"

"Clichés became clichés for a reason, they work!" Adrian informed, taking another handful of petals and dusting around the room, "Well it seems my work here is done."

Dimitri gave a hearty chuckle, and nodded "Thanks."

Just as Dimitri thought Adrian had walked out the door, "By the way… Congratulations."

"Thank you." Dimitri gave Adrian his award winning smile, and sent him off. He was about to take of his clothes and climb into the bed naked ready for Rose to get home. But a loud ring of his pager began to fill the room, he reached over the bed and stared at the words appearing on screen.

* * *

"What have we got?" Dimitri asked the paramedic as she opened the doors. She pulled out the gurney,

"Victor Dashkov, 32, shoulder dislocation, stabilized in the field," the paramedic explained, pushing Mr. Dashkov into the Emergency Room.

"Please!" the wife exclaimed, "Please help him! I didn't know the car was still in drive, Please!" she climbed out of the ambulance holding onto Dimitri's hand, "Please" she whispered before collapsing into Dimitri's arms.

"Okay, let's get her inside."

* * *

The following morning, Dimitri opened the velvet box in his hand, just taking a glimpse of the ring. He and Adrian had cleaned up the bedroom just after he got the page into the hospital.

Frustrated wasn't really the right word to what he was feeling. He had been paged _911 _to do a neuro consult on a shoulder dislocation? Why the hell would he be need at the hospital when there were 2 other neurosurgeons?

Lost in his thoughts he didn't realise the calling of his name, but being pulled aside by Adrian knocked him back into reality.

"Are you going to do it again?" Adrian pried.

"Do what?" Abe butted in, overhearing the conversation.

"Dimitri's is proposing." Adrian told him nonchalantly. Dimtiri flashed him an annoyed glance, he wasn't supposed to tell anyone!

"Really?! Outstanding!" Abe exclaimed, patting him on the back.

"Yeah…"

"How you going to do it?"

"Chief. Morning all." Christian interrupted, greeting his fellow workmates.

"Dimitri's proposing," Adrian revealed again. Dimitri flashed him yet another irritated look.

"Congratulations! That's a big step."

"Thank you." Dimitri acknowledged, he turned back to Adrian, "Are you going to tell everybody now?"

"No more, but you need advice, it was too cliché last night."

"You gave me that idea!" Dimitri seethed, slapping the back of Adrian's head.

"So how are you going to do it?" Christian asked. That was the third time he had been asked that question today.

"I don't know, Mr. Cliché and I set up something last night but I was paged," Dimitri explained.

Adrian glanced over to the oncoming figure and coughed, prompting Dimitri to turn around and see Rose approaching them. Abe walked away immediately and Adrian pulled some words out of his head to cover up their conversation, "So did you use a scalpel for that?"

"Not if you want a partial parietal hematoma!" Dimitri covered, bursting out into a fake laughter, followed shortly by Adrian and Christian.

Rose glanced curiously in their direction, "Hi," she said to them, "Dr. Belikov, I need a neuro consult"

"Just don't tell anyone else," Dimitri scolded softly at Adrian, and followed Rose to the patient, it was Natalie. Rose filled him in on the situation; that Natalie had a seizure and her blood pressure was through the roof.

"This wasn't in the 'What to expect book' they didn't say to expect seizures." Natalie said, when Dimitri entered the room.

"I know that's why we are going to do an exam," Dimitri said, pulling out his penlight and pointing it into her eye, "Can you look down for me?"

Natalie's eyes darted down and her attention was caught by the velvet box in his breast pocket, "Ooo what is that?"

Dimitri stood up in shock, turning around to face Rose, "Dr. Hathaway, can you set up an MRI, please right now."

"But did you…" Rose protested.

"Now please." Dimitri ordered.

"Okay…" Rose replied curiosity laced her voice. What is up with all the secrets?

"Did you see something?" Natalie asked.

"No." Dimitri assured.

He turned to double check to see if Rose was out of the room and he was sure she couldn't hear, he pulled out the box and glanced over at Sydney.

"Can you keep a secret?" Dimitri asked.

"You bet I can." Sydney nodded.

He opened the box to reveal the ring making Natalie gasp in delight, "This is intended for Dr. Hathaway. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Oh my god!" Natalie exclaimed, covering her mouth, "And I almost blew it! When are you going to do it? Today? Oh please do it today?! Do it here! Please!"

"Oh I don't' know, I was told to do a grand gesture"

"Well Vic proposed to me in a supermarket, telling me that it was the place he first saw me so I said yes between the cat food and the tampons."

"Ohh!" he laughed, "That's romantic!"

"It was actually," Natalie smiled.

"Well we should do the MRI just in case," he said, changing the subject. He turned to leave the room.

"Dr. Belikov?" she called.

"Yes?"

"Should I be scared?"

"No." He assured, "Should I?"

"No." Natalie replied confidently.

* * *

Dimitri and Rose stood in front of Natalie, relaying the results of the MRI.

"An aneurysm?" Natalie questioned, "A brain aneurysm?"

"Yes," Rose confirmed. Natalie shifted herself into a higher position and the beeping of the heart monitor increased as Natalie was getting agitated,

"So what are you going to do? Take it out?" Natalie asked fearfully.

"We would like to fix it in surgery, and we'll do it first thing in the morning, but we are going to wait until your husband is out of surgery first."

"He's in surgery?! I thought it was minor!" Natalie exclaimed in panic.

"Nat, you need to calm down." Rose added as she watched her patient's heart rate and blood pressure to increase.

"Calm down?! You just told me I have a time bomb in my head. I promise you I am not going to stay calm!"

Dimitri sighed in worry.

* * *

Blood oozed out of the aneurysm as his accidentally nicked its edges, the blood was coming out so fast it was clouding his surgical field.

"Dammit!" he said, as he noticed the tear in the aneurysm "Dammit! Hang two units of blood. Sydney get in there,"

"Wow…" she said, as the suction began evacuating the area but no matter how much the suction kept going, the blood just kept on coming.

"Temporary clip," Dimitri ordered his scrub nurse, "Micro-sutures please"

Rose continued to relay the patient's blood pressure as it continued to fall dramatically.

"Okay…" Dimitri said, attaching the clip and fixing the tear.

"Did you get it?" Sydney asked.

Dimitri nodded softly as he surveyed the vessel, "There is good flow…" he said, sighing a breath of relief.

* * *

Rose finally made it home after her 48 hour long shift, she dived onto Dimitri's side of the bed breathing in the scent of his aftershave that lingered from his nights spent there. She slid her hands under the pillow, and rested her head on top. Her fingers brushed a foreign object just underneath, it was soft and like velvet. She pulled the object out and recognised it immediately. A rose petal. She stared at the petal for longer than she thought possible. Why was there a rose petal under Dimitri's pillow? She sat up on the bed and leaned up against the headboard, the petal in her fingers.

When Dimitri came into the room a few minutes later after his shower, he noticed the petal in her hands. His eyes widened in surprise.

"What is this?" Rose asked him. But Dimitri stood there just staring at the petal in her hand.

"I… um… Don't know…" He fumbled.

"Dimitri, I know you well enough to know when you are lying."

He slapped himself internally, how could he be so careless?

"Fine…" he gave in, trying to come up with another excuse, "Roses remind me of you and when you're on call I like to stare at this petal," He lied, hoping that she would buy it. It was he biggest crapping chessy line he could think of. He could tell Rose was already thinking his excuse was the biggest load of bullshit but didnt question it.

She attempted to raise her eyebrow in curiosity but failed miserably, making Dimitri laugh.

Her interrogation was soon over with the interruption of Dimitri and her own pager. She dashed across the bed, reaching for her pager and glanced at the screen. They stared back at each other, and made their way back to the car.

The drive was fast, the rushed into the hospital and into Natalie's room, watching her struggle to breathe, she was grasping at her neck, inhaling sharply, the heart monitor was beeping dramatically. Nurses were coming in and out, and Rose immediately went to Natalie's bedside and placed an oxygen mask over her face to help her breathe.

Dimitri surveyed her chart, worry etched on his face, he wondered for a moment whether nicking her aneurysm could have caused this, but nothing that he did during surgery should create a problem like this. Natalie began to calm down and Rose helped Natalie sit upright, allowing her to expand her lungs more.

"Okay let's do a chest film, blood gas and an e.k.g,"

"Why is this happening?" Victor asked, holding onto his wife with his good hand, "Did something go wrong with the surgery?"

"Like I said there were a few complications, but it shouldn't have anything to do with this," Dimitri answered, lifting his hands to grasp hers, "Nat squeeze my hands," he felt her squeeze his hands tightly, "Okay good, I don't know what is wrong at the moment but I promise you I will figure it out."

Victor and Natalie nodded their heads simultaneously, and Dimtiri and Rose left the room to prepare for the tests.

Dimitri overlooked every scan and test that was run on Natalie but nothing came up, nothing to explain the decreased breathing. He stood at the nurses' station, just staring at the scans,

"Hey, Rose told me I could find you here…" A voice said behind him, he turned around and was met with a person of his utmost surprise. Tasha.

"Tasha! What are you doing here? How's LA?" Dimitri greeted.

"Oh you know lots of sun, surfing, beaches," Tasha replied.

"Surfing? You surf?" Dimitri smirked, just because they were divorced, didn't mean they didn't know things about each other, and Tasha was definitely not a surfer or a person who liked beaches.

"Yeah, whatever, anyway I'm here on a consult, Abe called me in, so I'll be here for a few days,"

"Okay. Great." Dimitri replied, his mind suddenly drifting to his pregnant patient.

"Hey. Is everything okay?" Tasha asked, noticing Dimitri's smiling face forming into one of deep thought.

"Yeah. It's just I operated on a patient earlier and now she can't breathe…" Dimitri said reluctantly.

"Did you toss a P.E?"

"Yup. Scans negative" Dimtiri replied, he paused, thinking about whether to tell Tasha what he had did, "I nicked her aneurysm during surgery, I repaired it perfectly, I've just never seen a post-op complication like this. I got a CT, chest x-ray, echo, all fine."

"Did you check the baby?" Tasha asked.

"I checked FHTs they were fine…"

"You need to run a Doppler,"

"It's the mother who can't breathe…"

"No. Trust me. Run a Doppler. the baby could be the problem."

* * *

"Ahem!" Victor interrupted, "Excuse me, could someone tell me what's going on please?"

"It's possible that your wife is having trouble breathing because there is something wrong with the baby." Tasha explained.

"There is something wrong with the baby?" Victor gasped.

"Sometimes these things can happen." Tasha informed but was interrupted again.

"No! Everything was fine before we came in here! Now you're telling me that there is something wrong with the baby? My wife was fine!"

Tasha sighed and looked over at Dimitri's sullen form.

"No, she wasn't fine, she ran you over with her car and then had a seizure. She wasn't fine." Rose told him.

"She's mirroring…" Tasha said.

"What does that mean?" Rose asked.

"Mirror Syndrome, It's rare but sometimes, when the baby is sick in utero, the mother will mirror it's symptoms."

"So it's psychological?" Rose questioned.

"No. The symptoms are very real. And in this case the baby is anemic and is causing congestive heart failure in both of them."

"What can we do?" Dimitri inquired.

"We need to do a blood type and an antibody screen."

"What if one of them is positive?" Dimitri asked again.

"Let's just take it one step at a time…" Tasha said calmly.

* * *

Dimitri caught up with Tasha who was holding the test results of his patient, but Tasha's face said it all. She noticed Dimtiri's approached and looked up at him.

"The baby is severely anemic, the blood that you gave her during the surgery could have had an antigen that is incompatible to the baby's and is now killing the baby's blood cells."

Dimitri's hert fell "So what should we do?"

"Well normally I would suggest an in-utero blood transfusion, but Natalie is not a normal case."

"Then?"

"We take the baby out."

"But she is only 24 weeks, the chance of the baby surviving is almost none."

"That is a chance that we should take. Its either that or both of them dying."

* * *

"No. Leave him in." Natalie said instantly, "He's too small! Please! Leave him in!"

"Nat…" Victor sighed.

"Natalie, I have a great record with preemies, I know this is scary, but taking him out would be the best thing for us to do."

"No. No." Nat shook her head frantically, clutching her belly, holding onto her son for dear life.

Dimitri and Tasha met outside, discussing the next course of action, "You need to save the baby's life."

"Dimitri… The chances of her surviving the surgery are very small,"

"I nicked her aneurysm! I never do that! I don't even know WHY I did that! I don't know if I was tired or distracted?"

"Dimitri even great surgeons make mistakes, they just happen!"

"No. Not to me."

"This isn't your fault! The transfusion didn't work! The blood didn't match! These things happen!"

"NO! No!" Dimitri shouted "I nicked her aneurysm! If I hadn't have done that she wouldn't have needed blood! It is my fault. If that baby dies, I can't live with that. Please… Save the baby."

"Okay…" She agreed reluctantly, "I'll do it…"

* * *

Hours after Nat's second surgery she was once again waking up from the anesthesia. It was a successful surgery, barring the very minor complications the baby was fine. Hopefully. They were both fine.

"Vic?" She mumbled softly, as the effects began to wear off.

"Nat. Honey!" He exclaimed happily, cupping his wife's face, "He's fine! He's going to be okay!"

"He's going to be okay?"

"Yes!" He replied, kissing her on the forehead.

"We all going to be okay!" she said happily, "I kept thinking that the tigers were going to baby… cut… uh… blue…"

"Dr. Belikov, she's not making any sense, why isn't she making sense?"

* * *

Dimitri monitored Natalie day in day out for three days straight. When was this going to end? He thought to himself. First the baby and now another complication.

"Lack of blood flow through the vessel is what's causing the mini strokes and aphasia, we can't put this surgery off any longer. So what I am going to do is a repair called an ECIG bypass. "

"And that will fix the strokes? She'll be fine after this?"

"I'm hoping it will work yes"

"But the… en… uh…" Natalie muttered out, turning to her husband.

"I'm sure they wouldn't operate if it weren't safe for the baby, right? Dr. Ozera?"

"Your blood pressure is still very high and I will keep monitoring you and the baby throughout the surgery."

"Okay, get some rest. I'll see you in a bit"

"Dammit! The bypass isn't holding!" Dimitri said defeated, Blood continued to hurl out of the burst bypass. He stood at his patient for a few minutes in silence, clueless of what to do next. Rose stared back at him.

"What are you going to do?" She asked. But he didn't reply, he just stared at the open brain in front of him, "Dimitri."

"I have to take out her temporal lobe," he said suddenly.

"Can you do that? Can she live without it?" Rose asked.

"Yes she can," Tasha answered for him, "She'll just have some speech and hearing impairment."

"Forceps," Dimitri ordered, he extracted the section of the temporal lobe and placed it into the tray held out to him by the scrub nurse. He continued to repair the area, but his attention was suddenly captured by the blood coming out of the frontal lobe.

"Dammit, She's still bleeding," he sighed, there was a really long moment "I have to take out her frontal lobe"

"What?!" Rose and Tasha said at the same time.

"No, Dimitri! You can't! She's going to die, You've done enough! I'm taking the baby out."

"Can she live without her frontal lobe AND her temporal lobe?"

"No. She can't, she'll lose everything that makes her, her!"

"The baby's heart rate is bottoming out," the OB resident said. Tasha began to panic.

"Dimitri this is going to far, even if you take out her frontal lobe and she lives, she will not be the same person that her husband and her child need her to be! You are creating a monster! You don't get to play god here! Nat is gone! You need to let her go and let me take this baby out!"

"No! Put down the scalpel Tasha!" Dimitri screamed. The stared at each other for a moment in silence, the rapid beeping of the heart monitor filled the room.

"You put down the scalpel." Tasha said calmly, "Rose… Go get…"

"Do not go anywhere!" he ordered. Rose battled herself internally, do the right thing? Or stay by Dimitri?

"Go!" Tasha ordered the OB resident, "Dimitri don't do this!"

"Do not touch my patient! If you do a c-section now she will lose too much blood and die!"

"Most of her brain is gone! For all intents and purposes, she is already dead!" Tasha lifted the scalpel and cut into her abdomen.

"Rose go get some more blood, she's going to need more blood."

"No more blood Dimitri," Abe said as he entered the OR. He stepped between Dimitri and Rose as Rose stepped away from Dimitri to follow his orders.

Tasha pulled the baby out and cut the umbilical cord. She placed him in the incubator, that came in right after the chief came in. The loud wail of the flatline on the heart monitor filled the room and Dimitri hesitantly lifted his head light of his head. He turned to leave, pulling off his gloves and yanking the door open.

* * *

Dimitri was at the edge of the cliff, one more push and it was over, he would tumble off the cliff careening down to the depths of the open water. He struggled to grasp of hold of reality, just knowing that this was his fault, if only he hadn't nicked that aneurysm, none of this would have been happening. He was a world class surgeon, people around the country fly all the way to him just because they knew he was the best. And this is what best gave him? A death. One that was entirely his fault. The surgery was routine, he had done it hundreds of times. He didn't make mistakes like this.

"We think that with your wife's high blood pressure… is what caused the surgery to fail, it caused the bleeding and the swelling in the brain… Dr. Belikov did everything he could to save her but there was too much damage to the brain…" Rose spoke up. Dimitri's head was in his hands, just leaning over. She could hear silent sniffles.

"You said it was a routine procedure, that she would be fine and then was a complication and you said you fixed that… but then the baby got sick and that made Nat sick, but then you said you fixed that too… And now she's dead?"

"I'm sorry…" Dimitri replied sincerely, looking up into the husband's eyes.

"Stop saying you're sorry! Where is my wife!?" the husband sobbed, his hands shook violently as he struggled to grasp a hold of his sadness "You killed her! You're a murderer!"

* * *

**A/N – Uhhh… Well that was an unexpected setback…**


	28. Behind Your Shadow

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 28**

Dimitri sat on the couch of her house, his hand stuffed inside a box of cereal. Boxes and boxes of Chinese take-out was laid all over the coffee table. Rose understood why he was being all depressed, losing a patient and being hit with a lawsuit all in one week was a lot to take in.

"He's a mess!" Mia sighed, afraid of going inside.

"He lost a patient and was hit with a lawsuit all in one week… You should give him the benefit of the doubt, and you are all cowards," Rose spoke up, she walked slowly towards him. The further in she got the more intense the smell was getting, the mould from the leftover Chinese, the stench from him not taking a shower in three days.

"Hey," she began, "Eating is good, you know what else is good? A shower, some water, freshen up."

He grumbled in response, taking out a handful of cereal and stuffing it into his mouth. He glanced down at his shirt, eyeing the mess he was wearing. He grumbled again and stood up, trudging angrily towards the group of residents gathered at the door. He shoved his box of cereal into Eddie's arms. Earlier that morning he had heard Eddie complaining in the kitchen about his missing cereal and that it was so obvious that Dimitri had taken it for his stockpile in the living room.

Rose could hear his heavy footsteps up her staircase and across the hallway into her bedroom, soon after there was a soft hum of the shower. She sighed in resignation, she had been supportive all week and she knew Dimitri needed to snap out of his trance sooner rather than later.

She drove into the hospital with her friends, pulling into the parking lot in pure silence. They walked into the lobby together but she was hailed down by the chief almost instantly.

"Is Belikov going to grace us with his presence today?" Abe questioned.

"Yeah, I think so, he has to meet the lawyers today," She replied.

"Good, he can do that craniotomy he left behind," he muttered, walking away from her. She made her way up to the resident locker room, ready to begin another round of her shift.

"Ow!" Mia cried as she smashed her leg against the bench in front of her. She had walked straight into it, it didn't even seem like she even tried to dodge it.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked surprised, glancing down at Mia's leg to see if she was okay.

"I… Uh… yeah," she shook her head, as if she was clearing her thoughts. She stepped over to her locker and pretended nothing had even happened.

"Dr. Rinaldi, We have some ideas about Patient X!" One of the interns said, entering the room.

"Great! Okay let's go," Mia ordered, following the intern out of the room.

"Who is the Patient X thing? They're taking all the interns, now we have to do all the grunt work." Eddie complained.

"Don't know but I want my interns back," Lissa whined.

* * *

Rose found Dimtiri in the conference room several hours later, after word went around that the meeting with the lawyers was finished. 2 piles of paper work sat in front of him, one significantly higher than the other.

"How did the meeting go?" she asked cautiously, one wrong word could send Dimitri over the edge and plummet towards the bottom.

"They told me my death rate," he said, her mouth gaped slightly open realising that he wasn't on the edge, he was already over, he pointed to the small pile "these are the people I saved," and then pointed to the larger pile, "These are the people I've killed,"

"You didn't kill them Dimitri, most of the patients were terminal and you were their last hope. You're just not look at the bigger picture."

"This." He pointed at the larger pile again, "Is the bigger picture."

He pushed himself off the chair and stormed out of the room, leaving Rose alone in the room. She sighed in defeat, and stared at his pile of deaths.

* * *

Dimitri was no longer at the hospital by the time she was out of surgery, he must have stormed home and locked himself in the bedroom.

She went home right after her shift ended, wanting to check on Dimitri, when she made it home, she called out to him in the foyer, but there was no answer. She climbed the staircase and noticed her bedroom door open. She went inside and the bed was the same as it was that morning, untouched. She spotted the open drawer, the one where Dimitri keeps his clothes in. It was empty. He had gone. Taken all his stuff and gone.

She could feel the rise of a panic attack, she couldn't handle this, everyone was leaving her. First her father, and now Dimitri? She raced out of the house, and got in her car. She sat at the driver's seat for a moment before realising that Dimitri could be out at the trailer.

Half an hour later, she pulled up at the trailer, he stood a few feet in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief that Dimitri hadn't actually left her. He turned at the glaring brightness of her car's head beam and groaned. He baseball bat in his hands and empty beer cans were scattered across the grass.

"Go home, Rose!" he yelled, slugging the baseball bat over his shoulder to reach over and pick up another empty can of beer.

"How long are you planning on hiding out here?" She said, climbing out of her car and moving closer to him.

He looked over at her, his face saying _I'm not hiding_

"Because that is what you are doing. Hiding. You made a mistake, she's dead and you can't hide from that,"

"I'm not hiding!" he vocalized, "I'm done. I'm done operating"

"So what? You're just quitting?"

"You should know better than anybody else. You wrote the book on quitting," He said coldly, "Running. Hiding. You wrote a lot of books Rose."

"That's may be true…. But I'm here now."

"Mmm" he said, throwing back the last bits of his beer, and he laughed sarcastically "You're here now? You pull away at the first sign of commitment, wanting me to wait? You wanted to run for the hills. You lied to me. You try to avoid anything that involves commitment. Great speech by the way. Very convincing."

"Dimitri Belikov! You are drunk! And you are angry! I have been there but you can't just-"

"Just go home Rose." He interrupted.

"You can't just stand there and tell me what to do!" she argued.

"This is what you want Rose! I'm giving you an out! GO!"

"I'm not going anywhere!"

"I SAID LEAVE! ROSEMARIE! LEAVE!" He screamed, she was taken back slightly. He had used her full name. Not Rose.

"I know there is a ring… the chief told me…" She told him softly. He turned and stared back at her in surprise. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box, his mother's ring safely inside. He opened the box and took the ring out.

"You want the ring?" he said.

A million thoughts ran though her head, was he going to propose? The way he was?

"Here's your ring" He threw the ring up in the air and whacked it across his land with his baseball bat. She stepped back as he swung the bat, his rage and anger was channeled into the hit. He flung his bat in her direction, landing at her feet.

"Is that the best you've got?!" she yelled at him as he receded towards his trailer, "Because we're in this together!"

He slammed the door behind him, and he disappeared inside. A small moment of quiet filled the gap before his loud shouting began.

"GO HOME ROSE!"

Despite the fact that he was in his trailer and the shouting was muffled by the walls, there was no denying the aggressiveness that still hung in the air. She shook her head in disbelief. Figuring that he wasn't going to come back out. Ever. Especially if she was there. She turned and stomped back to the car

* * *

Abe stormed into Dimitri's trailer, the clatter of beer bottles clashing into each other alerted Dimitri to a new presence. Dimitri shot up off the bed and immediately demanded him to get out.

"No." Abe said firmly.

"IBRAHIM! GET OUT!" Dimitri screamed furiously.

But Abe stood in his place determined not to move, "Look I have destroyed lives before several in fact and yours is not one of them, I sent the woman you loves you out here to help you. I sent the woman you love out here to bring you back to your life. If you ruin things with her that is on YOU. I don't accept it. You're scared. You're drunk. You don't know which way is up. You threw your ring at Rose. You want to throw me out. Well I'M NOT ACCEPTING IT! Because I'm older than you, and I've been where you are! Hell you were drunk for a few days. I was drunk for YEARS! And I know you are going to need someone when you decide to come out of this hole you're digging. I hope you come out of it soon."

Dimitri sighed, feeling defeated. The chief's words really hit home, he was digging a hole for himself, hiding behind his fears. And Rose was getting hurt because of it.

"I don't think I can go back…" he shook his head.

"Did you call her?"

"What am I going to say?"

"I was in an affair with her mother for years, and when my wife found out, somehow she took me back," he paused, just nodding to him, that there was still hope , "You can make your way back from anything"

* * *

Rose needed to prove to Dimitri that she wasn't going anywhere. Despite her insecurities and suicidal tendancies, this time she was staying… For good, but now it seemed that Dimitri was pulling away, hiding behind his own shadow. Not to mention she was desperate for him to come back into the hospital or her family of friends were going to fall apart.

Rose strolled through the hallways, trying to come up with ways to prove herself. That was all she thought about until Alto approached her moments later, with a sad frown imprinted on his face. His next words shocked her to the very core, leaving her speechless. Mia was sick. A brain tumor. Ros yanked the scans out of Alto's hands, and lifting it up towards the light to take a better look and there it was just on the temporal lobe, a white speck the size of a pea. She stormed out of the hospital knowing that she needed Dimitri back to save her friend.

It explained everything, the past few weeks were strange with Mia. Her decreased depth perception, her strange mood swings, and Rose had even caught her talking to herself a few times. She was a doctor for heaven's sake, and yet she never seemed to take into account that her own friend could be sick. She just dismissed it as being a doctor and always being tired. How wrong she was.

She walked into the store, searching the place for glass jars and candles. She was going to go all out. It was the only way for Dimitri to believe that she was there for him and maybe just maybe she could convince him to go back. She approached the store worker after she had taken all of the candles and jars from the shelf. She needed more. A lot more. The store person must have thought she was insane, like who in the world would buy so many candles?

After helping her lug the candles into her jeep, she drove up to Dimitri's land. She drove down another route, hidden away from the trailer.

She climbed up to the section of land where Lissa got married, and set up. She followed the plans, laying out the candles as the edges. She sneakily made a pathway from the trailer up to the house so he would know that she was here. The sun was beginning to set by the time she had arranged the house of candles, just in time she thought to herself. She lit them one by one, each candle in a jar.

She lay on the grass staring at the stars that were beginning to appear in the night sky.

"What is all of this?" he asked, spotting Rose in the middle of the candles.

"Proof that I'm in this, no matter what!" She replied, stepping forward, "I love you Dimitri Belikov and I am not going anywhere!"

He walked closer to the house of candles she had built, stepping over the candles to meet her in the middle. The chief's words began to flow through his mind.

"I love you," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her, "I'm so sorry about the ring,"

"That's okay, but Dimitri… I can't stand here watching you throw your life away, you are a surgeon by heart, it is your life your future. You belong in the OR and you can't hide that fact."

"Would you still love me if I wasn't a surgeon?" he asked, she was taken aback by his question, not expecting him to ask such a question. But then she remembered why she desperately needed for him to be back in the OR.

"No." She replied, the small smile on Dimitri's face shattered before her eyes, she quickly added, "No because Mia is sick, she has a brain tumor, and you are about 1 in 20 people who can save her. And I don't think I can respect someone who can walk away from a gift like that, so please don't, come back to save my friend. Here are her scans… but they're not good."

She stepped away from him, knowing now he need some time to himself, "By the way" he called after her and smirked "The house is a little small."

* * *

**A/N – I didn't really like the speed of this chapter. I tried slowing it down. But I was lost on what to slow it down with. Many of you don't enjoy the mess of medical crap so there isn't much I can do except go crazy with emotions, which I am just not in the right zone for. So apologies for the speed.**


	29. Steps to Freedom

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – Could this be the chapter you have all been waiting for?**

* * *

**Chapter 29**

After Rose's house of candles, each candle blew out one by one, he sat in the middle just staring at the works she had done to prove herself. He sat there for hours just breathing and thinking. He still felt extremely guilty for killing Nat, there was no doubt in his mind that it was his fault but for Rose, he needed to suck it up and move on.

As dawn approached hastily, his thoughts moved onto Rose and their future together. He smiled at his dreams of the future, until it struck him. The _Ring._ The one he had whacked out into his acres of forest. His mother was going to _kill _him if she found out. He leaped up from his position and ran back towards his trailer. After moments of uncertainty he raced around the patch of grass he thought the ring would be.

Where was it?!

And by some miracle stroke of luck, it was there, sitting softly in the grass. He brushed off the speck of dirt atop of the small diamond, and breathed a sigh of relief. He walked back to what was left of the house of candles and sat back down in the middle, the ring now safely tucked back into his pocket.

Step one of climbing out his hole – Complete

The house of Candles was a little more inspiring that DImtiri had initially thought it would be. After sitting there for hours, it had turned from more than just a floor plan made of candles but home. He could have a home here… with Rose.

The following morning, he had risen from his fixated position on the grass and changed out of his tracks and drove up to Rose's house.

Dimitri walked guiltily into her house, he entered the kitchen first after hearing her soft voice trail into the foyer. She smiled when she saw him, a duffel bag in his hand, she knew he was back, and he had chosen to be the man he wants himself to be. He threw the bag down at the door and approached her. He reached into his pocket to pull out the velvet box that held the ring.

He sat down on the chair that was pulled out, the more he stared at her, the more insecure he got. Everything in his body was tugging against his actions, screaming at him to run now before his heart was to be shattered into a thousand pieces if he killed another patient.

"Not like this…" she said softly, closing the lid of the velvet box, she leaned over the table and kissed him softly on the lips. She knew he was still afraid of what would happen in surgery, it wasn't just any patient. It was Mia.

She is a friend, a roommate, ever since it all began. He was there for every up and down with everything in the house. Despite his objections to being involved in intern drama. Whatever Rose's drama was, it was also his. He had grown accustomed to Mia's presence in the house. And now that she was in hospital stay, the place was eerily quiet and empty.

Dimitri nodded back in understanding and stood up. He turned and grabbed his duffel bag.

"I'm going to shower, then head to the hospital," he told her.

* * *

Dimitri stood above on the catwalk, staring down into the entryway leading to the lobby. It was the first time in a week since he had been back and it felt different. It was foreign to him, his mind had totally shoved the thought of medicine away from his mind, letting him dig himself a hole to hide in.

The chief had found him immediately when Dimitri entered the hospital, as if the Chief had camped there all week waiting for his head of Neuro to return. After reinstating his positon, Dimitri's guilt only grew bigger and more intense. The fact that he was at the hospital moving on and Nat was far away, leaving her husband and child behind to fend for themselves just kept latching onto his guilt and dragging it all the way back to the surface.

He couldn't do it.

His hands trembled at the thought of anyone leaving him at that point. Rose. He needed Rose.

He dashed down the stairwell and went through the hospital with a fine tooth comb, she was here he knew it, he had seen her right before he went into the meeting with the Chief. He rushed to the OR floor and scanned the OR board, and there was her name, sitting under Christian's. She as in a heart surgery.

He sighed in defeat, she wasn't going to be out anytime soon. He dropped on to the seat near the nurses' station and buried his head into his hands.

"Dimitri?" a soft voice asked, he immediately recognised it as Rose's. He shot out of the seat, and wrapped his arms around her.

"I thought you were in surgery?"

"I was, but Mia… I thought the chief would have taken you to prep Mia for surgery, that's why Christian let me leave early"

"Oh…" he nodded in understanding, but before he could protest, she was already stalking away from him, turning every now and then to check if he was actually following. She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the Neuro floor.

"There you are!" the Chief boomed as he spotted Dimitri exit the elevator with Rose in tow. She was a few steps behind, him ready to catch him. She laughed at the thought of the role reversal. Dimtiri was never the runner from his problems, he would stand up to them and face them. But now he was hiding and running far and far away from his problems, it was something that Rose would do but not him.

The chief shoved the chart into Dimtiri's hand, he turned to Rose for support and she nodded. He breathed in heavily and opened the door to reveal Mia sitting on the bed, knitting needles in her hands.

"Welcome back Dr. Belikov!" she said cheerfully, making Dimitri smile gently. She was so joyful even under her circumstances, "Oh Cheer up! I know you can do this Dimitri!"

It was the first time Mia had actually called him Dimitri, always referring him as Dr. Belikov even at home. He shook his head softly and started to get to the point.

"As you know, you have a benign tumor on your temporal lobe, these tumors can cause intense hallucinations and decreased depth perception and memory loss…"

"Dimitri, I'm a doctor… I know all this… Can you please just fix me?" Mia interrupted.

"As your doctor, I have to tell you of the risks," he added.

"I could die. Simple." Mia responded. The chief nodded towards Dimitri telling him it was alright not tell her anymore.

* * *

Dimitri stared into the OR being prepped, he had been in the scrub room for over 20 minutes, and yet he still hadn't gotten a grasp of the reality into what he was about to do.

The sound of the door being opened startled him, Rose walked in holding his ferryboat scrub cap.

She glanced over at the Chief who was standing next to him, and handed him the scrub cap.

"It's his ferryboat scrub cap…" she said to him, "he loves ferryboats"

She didn't know why she had told the Chief that, but she dashed out of the room right after in embarrassment. She walked quickly down the hallway only to be stopped by the sound of a door opening and the calling of her name.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed as she recognised Dimitri approach her, "You're going to have to rescrub!"

"I can't do it!" he replied, his voice laced with fear and worry.

"Yes you can!" she encouraged.

"No… I need you to say yes… I need to know that you will still be there after all of this…"

"I can't…" she replied softly, "I love you…. I know you can do this."

She leaned up onto his chest, pulled him down and kissed him. She could feel his walls start to fall away, his insecurities flying off into the distance. She pulled away gently and fell back onto her heels.

She turned away with a smile, and walked off to do other things.

Dimitri glanced down at the open brain in front of him, brushing away all of the details that the person on his table was his girlfriend's friend. He filtered his mind of the thoughts and focused on the medicine.

"Okay people… It's a good day to save lives…" he said, it was something he used to say a lot as a ritual, "Scaplel."

Step 2 – Finished

The surgery breezed by successfully, not coming through any complications on the way. He breathed another sigh of relief. He unconsciously scrubbed out of the surgery, letting the nurses handle the transfer.

He walked quietly towards the attendings' lounge, he should be happy, but he wasn't.

"You did well in there today," the Chief praised, "Shouldn't you and Rose be out there celebrating?"

"She turned me down twice, she says she understands, but…"

"So you showed her your dark side… Rose never struck me as a woman who was afraid of the dark,"

Dimitri grumbled "I don't know…"

"Did you know that it was Rose who convinced Mia to let you do the surgery today? She believed in you." The chief patted the sullen man on the back and left the room, leaving him alone with the shaver.

* * *

After a long day, Rose was ready to head home, climb into bed and fall into the deep sleep that she desperately needed. She trudged to the elevator, and repeatedly pushed the down button, in the hope that it would arrive faster.

The soft ping of the elevator, alerted her to its arrival and she stepped forward to enter it. The rush of footsteps came from her right and the Chief suddenly appeared in front of her. His arms were out wide blocking her from entering the elevator.

"You can't go in this one" he said quickly.

"Why not?" she asked, frustrated by the interruption.

"I said don't take it," he replied in haste.

"I will take the one I want to take," she said slightly frustrated at the Chief's persistence in not letting her on the elevator. She stepped to her left, but the Abe stepped to his right to block her again. This continued till the elevator doors closed. Rose sighed. What the hell?

She heard the Chief sigh in relief that the doors had closed and the elevator went away. She looked over at him and pushed the damn buttons, harder each go.

The elevator pinged again, this time to other elevator light signaled. She angrily glanced over at Abe as if seeking an approval from him.

"Well go on!" he said, she stared back at him curiously.

She stood in front of the elevator as the doors opened.

The elevator was decorated with pieces of paper stuck to the walls, the light in the elevator was dimmed slightly offering a softer glow from the several light boxes were mounted on the wall. The Dimitri stood in the middle, his hand fixing the cuff of his suit. His hair was brushed back slightly, his scruffy beard shaved off. He looked like Dimitri, the old Dimitri, her Dimitri…

"Hey" he said dreamily, he gave her a big cheesy grin as he saw the look of surprise on Rose's face, "Come on in."

She slowly stepped into the elevator, captivated by all the pieces of paper and wondering what they were. He pointed at the CT scan to her left,

"This is a CT of Camille Conta… 16 year old female… subarachnoid aneurysm-" he began.

"From a fall during rhythmic gymnastics… I remember that…" Rose finished.

"It was the first ever surgery we scrubbed in together on, our first save," he told her, a smile forming on Rose's face as she remember the moment.

"This was a cerebral cyst, tough save but we did it. I kissed you in the stairwell… after the surgery," he reminded, moving along pointing at the next CT, "And this is the surgery that Stan Alto kicked you out of, after he caught us in your driveway in my car."

They laughed together as they both remembered what they were doing in his car. Her laugh sent tingles down his spine. He pulled up as much courage as he could as he moved to the other side of the elevator, lined with another row of light boxes.

"This was a 7 hour craniotomy and you held the clamp the entire time and didn't flinch, that was when I knew you were going to be an incredible surgeon" he paused, and flashed her another smile, "And this is today post op CT of Mia's surgery that you talked me into doing… see that?" he pointed at the spot where she knew the tumor was before, which was not just a normal patch of healthy brain matter, "tumor free, because of you."

"You got me into the OR, if there is a crisis… you don't freeze, you move forward… you get the rest of us to move forward, because you've seen worse. You've survived worse and you know we will survive too. You say you're all dark and twisty, that isn't a flaw… it's a strength. It makes you who you are." He paused "I love you Rosemarie Hathaway, I have since the moment I was saw you in that gorgeous black dress at the bar. So will you do me the honour of agreeing to spend the rest of our lives together?"

"Mhm," she nodded, too emotional to say anything else, tears of happiness welling up in both their eyes.

Step three – Done

He beamed and leaned down kissing her passionately, letting their moment last forever by sealing it with a kiss.

* * *

**A/N – I am not taking ANY credit at all, the proposal belongs to Shonda Rhimes who writes Greys Anatomy. And I just wanted to share the beautiful proposal that Derek gave to Meredith with you all. **

**To the reviewer that had the idea of instead of Mia having a tumor, and giving it to Rose was actually an amazing idea! I can't believe I didn't think of that! Anyway props to you! **

**Apologies for the late post, really busy lately…I hope this chapter can last you guys a while because my collection of chapters ends here so ill have to write one chapter at a time and post.**


	30. Life is a Mess

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Thanks for your patience! **

**To the guest who reviewed saying that Derek in Greys dies… he doesn't! LOL! MerDer is actually still together and still going strong! And don't worry! I won't kill Dimitri! Yet… jks**

* * *

**Chapter 30**

Dimitri was still sleeping, his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling evenly as she sat up beside him. She had mysteriously woken to the itching of her throat, and no matter how much she tossed and turned to find the perfect spot again, she couldn't. She closed her fist around the ring and reached her free hand to run through his mussed hair. He didn't even stir. And after a long moment, she withdrew her hand and returned her attention to the small object.

She opened her fist and smiled softly at the small ring. She wasn't the type to wear a ring. She couldn't even imagine herself wearing a ring, but from the fact that she never even imagine being engaged to a man as wonderful as Dimitri. Hell she didn't even think she would get married at all. He made her dark and twistiness fade away filling her life with bright and shiny.

She was getting married.

"What's the matter?" He grumbled as he sat up on the bed, sliding in behind her so she could lean on him. He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his hands around her abdomen and resting his chin on her shoulder. He kissed the top of her clavicle as she sighed.

"I'm just not the church and poofy dress kind of bride…"

"We can just get married naked in a field of flowers" he chuckled, enjoying the thought of Rose even thinking about her marriage.

"I'm not the naked bride either…" Rose giggled.

"Scrubs then…" he suggested.

"Oh! That is something that I could look into!" she laughed.

He glanced over to the clock, "We got to get up"

As Rose climbed out of the bed she fought against the nausea that was rising in her throat as she changed in position. She switched around to face Dimitri, planting a fake smile on her face. He smiled back, believing that nothing happened despite her change in facial expression at the thought of the bile in her throat.

"Maybe you can have a bouquet of scalpels," he added with a laugh. Dimitri watched the smile on his fiancee's face change from one of happiness to one of disgust. Without another word she dashed off into the bathroom, and bent over the toilet seat, emptying the contents of whatever was left in her stomach.

"Rose, are you alright?" Dimitri asked as he sat beside her on the bathroom floor, running a hand over her back gently.

"I'm fine," she replied. "I probably just ate something weird. It should be gone tomorrow."

Dimitri sighed as he pushed some hair out of her forehead, holding his hand against the smooth skin for a moment. "You don't have a fever," he sighed. "What else is wrong?"

"Nothing," she brushed away, "Let's just get ready for work."

Rose sighed as she leaned into him, opening her mouth to say something before she lurched forward, grabbing the edge of the toilet as she coughed loudly.

"Oh, Roza," he sighed, reaching out to hold her hair back and rubbing a gentle hand over her back. "It's okay. Breathe. Just breathe."

Rose pulled back from the toilet, reaching up to flush it before she turned to him with tears in her eyes. "I think I'm done," she whispered.

"Okay," he nodded, pressing his lips against her forehead. "You want me to help you back to bed?"

"I need to brush my teeth," she whimpered as she unsteadily rose to her feet, clutching his arm for balance.

"Do you need some ginger ale or something?" Dimitri asked as he handed her her toothbrush.

"Yeah okay," she sighed.

"I'll run out and get you some."

Rose paused, toothbrush already in her mouth before she simply nodded.

"Okay," he smiled, pressing his lips against her temple. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

* * *

Together they walked up to the hospital hand in hand, she wasn't wearing the ring, but he didn't care. He could finally call her his fiancée and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Despite her early morning throw up. Their moment… was perfect. Everything was in place. Or that was what Dimitri thought until dark faces loomed over him as he reached the surgical floor.

Something wasn't right by that point, Rose watched as Dimitri's smile fell away from his face. Their little special moment shattered before their eyes as the Chief looked towards them.

"I'm sorry Dimitri, but the Dashkov son… He didn't make it, his lungs were too underdeveloped… he passed away last night…" the pediatrician said, as she approached the couple.

Dimitri's head dropped to the face the floor, pushing any ounce of thought about what was happening at that moment. Nothing was going right… He should have known, that once everything was back to normal, the other shoe would drop and down the rollercoaster he would go.

"You killed her! AND NOW MY SON TOO!" A loud voice cried across the main nurses' station. Victor Dashkov walked past, being dragged along by his lawyers.

Dimitri stared into the hallway at where Victor was before being dragged away. Everything in his mind flowed away.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, snapping Dimitri out of the trance he was in.

"Yeah…" He shuddered, the furious look of Victor's face implanted in his mind.

"Are you right to work Dimitri? I can give you the day off?" the Chief offered, patting him on the back.

Dimitri sighed before replying, "I'm fine."

He stood up and pushed his way through the barricade of people that had crowded around to give him their support. He approached the nurses' station and picked up his charts for the day.

* * *

Burning flesh.

That was all that Rose could smell during the surgery she was scrubbing in on. The smell of the cautery never usually bothered her, but today the smell had increased ten-fold. The bile in her throat began to rise again.

"Are you alright, Hathaway? You look a little green." Christian commented, eyeing her from across the table.

"I'm fine…"

"You don't look fine. Go freshen up." He ordered.

"I'm fine." She repeated.

"Go. Hathaway. I mean it." Christian burned his eyes into her mind, forcing her to get out of his OR. She angrily stepped of the platform and pulled her surgical mask off. But before she could make it out the door she threw up into the biohazard bin in the OR by the door. "Dr. Hathaway, get yourself cleaned up and don't come back till you're sure you aren't going to throw up into my patient."

She immediately stormed out of the OR, furiously stomping away. How dare Christian say something like that? As if she would risk her patient like that!

Rose hid out in the tunnels, reveling in the quiet serenity of the area. The broken beds providing better comfort than the hard rocks for mattresses in the on call rooms.

"I heard you got kicked out of Christian's OR," Lissa commented, as she approached her ten minutes later, destroying her moment of sanctuary.

"Your husband's a jackass." She told her.

"I know but I love him anyway," Lissa smiled, wrapping her arm around Rose's shoulder, offering Rose her support. "Do you know why you threw up?"

"I probably ate something bad yesterday, the cautery just made the nausea worse."

"You know I've had that before…" Lissa said, Rose turned to her friend wondering when Lissa had had it, "When I was pregnant."

"Ha. There is no way I'm pregnant, Lissa,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah…" she said confidently, before that dissipated "What day is it?"

"The 19th" Lissa told her. Rose did the math, she hadn't had her period in 4… 5… 6 WEEKS?

"SHIT! I'm late!" Rose exclaimed, leaping off the bed, "HOW CAN I NOT NOTICE THIS?!"

Rose paced back and forth at the end of the bed. The fast paced walking of Rose made Lissa wonder when Rose would burn a hole through the floor.

"I can't be pregnant! THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY I AM PREGNANT! I'm on the pill! And we always use a condom… it's like STATISTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!"

Lissa laughed at her friends antics, "There is only one way to find out."

Rose struggle to find another answer to her friend, who was staring down at her intensely. She sighed in defeat and followed her friend out of the tunnels to an empty exam room. She sat down on the exam table while Lissa grabbed the equipment to get Rose's blood drawn. The sharp prick of the needle as it broke her skin suddenly caused Rose to realise the reality of the situation.

Her mother was a bitch. She couldn't be a mother. She would be a bad one, not bad… but horrible. She probably picked up on the horrible mommy genes. She was a second year resident for heaven sake, she can't have a baby, the chief will make her change specialties… to something like OB or worse, Psych.

She was guaranteed to be the next Janine Hathaway, she would win worst mother of the year, for the rest of her child's life.

* * *

Dimitri jerked awake for the second time that evening waiting for his girlf- fiancée to finish her shift. The sound of a boy laughing in the background before fading into a scream, the voices of Victor Dashkov lingering in his mind as he was being dragged away. _You killed him! You killed both of them! You will pay for what you have done! I will take everything from you just as you have done me!_

Sweat dripped down the side of his face, as he leaned against the metal headboard of the on call room. He had been in this room most of the day, avoiding his patients and leaving them with his colleagues. Rose had come in, once or twice telling him to go home, but being the stubborn man that he was, he insisted that he stayed.

The slight click of the door handle captures his attention, light from the outside filters in and a silhouette forms in doorway.

"Hey," she said softly, closing the door behind her, "I'm off now… Want to go home?"

He doesn't reply, just nodding in agreement. She helps him off the squeaky bed and kisses on the cheek before guiding his slump form towards the door.

The journey home was quiet, the hum of the engine breezing along as they drove across the highway towards their trailer home.

The moment they were inside the trailer, Dimitri lunges for the bed, burying his face into the pillow and breathed in the scent of nature. He glanced over at Rose draping her coat over the chair. She pulled her grey sweater over her head; her hair is loose and in waves that appear as golden in the morning light streaming through the windows.

She is gorgeous.

Rose raised her arms to pull her hair out of the grey Dartmouth jumper she had just thrown over her head. He could help but feel turned on by the sexiness of her actions as she prepared herself for bed, despite the wild emotions running around that day.

But just before she lets her arms fall back to the side of her body, he catches a glimpse of her sexy soft skin at her waist exposed by the lifting of her arms and-

Wait

What? Go back.

He cans see every hard angle, every jut of elbow and jaw and collarbone. And where he should see the arch of her hipbones, there is instead-

A curve.

A thinkening that – that – but – no.

No.

Dimitri Belikov knew every single curve and line of her body, every single freckle and beauty spot that she has. And he knows for absolutely sure and with startling clarity that that thickening,, the curve, the round nudge of her belly as her arm lifts.

His heart thumps harder in his chest, his emotions starting to brighten, as he no longer can think of another explanation than

Pregnant.

"You.. your… are you…" He stumbles, standing up and making her way over to her. She looks up to him, as if she was smacked on the head.

"Pregnant?" she finishes for him.

"Yeah?" his smile brightens even more, the hope building up in his chest. Her head falls to look down at her feet.

"I didn't want to make your day even worse…" she mumbled to her feet. Wait, did that mean?

He did an internal hi five to himself, his head squealing with joy, but still trying to remain calm to his droopy fiancée.

"What? What makes you think this…" he slowly grazes his knuckles against her belly where the curve was, "will make my day worse?"

She flinched against his touch, "I don't know, maybe because I don't want it?"

* * *

**A/N – I have said many times that this story will follow some of the storylines from Grey's Anatomy but not completely, it needs to change since there is no ending to Greys at the moment. AND I AM SOOOOO SORRY FOR POSTING THIS SO LATE! Anyway there will some changes throughout the next few chapters because the ending is near.**

**Sorry for the shortness of this chapter… ill make it up to you all**

**Until next time~ 3**


	31. No one In No one Out

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 31**

A bad mother.

She doesn't want to be a mother because she doesn't want to be like her mother. He's laughing internally at himself for not realising this part of her insecurities, but this… how could she ever even begin doubting herself about being a good mother.

"That is total bogus Rose! The fact that you are telling me that you don't want to be a mother because you are worried that you will become your mother, tells me that you are going to be an amazing mother Rose. Here you are caring for the fact that our child would have a bad mother, how can you not see that?"

He thought back to how many times he said the word mother in that same sentence and laughed at himself. He's pretty sure Rose is lost for words, he brushes the loose strand of hair out of her face and gently lifts her chin so that he could meet her gorgeous eyes.

"You will be a wonderful mother." He said with the utmost confidence, he knew it in his heart, his kids would be lucky to have Rose as a mother. She would be amazing, loving and caring. Everything that her mother wasn't, "Learn from your mother, you know what you didn't have when you were a child, you can give that to this kid Rose."

"I love you" she whispered breathily, he could barely heart the words being uttered from her trembling lips, but he sighed a breath of relief.

"Rose you trust me don't you?" he asked. She nodded in return. "Then you can trust me when I say that you are going to an amazing mom, okay? We are going to love this child until we die and you are not going to become your mother."

"Okay," she breathed.

"We can do this. Together." He said determinedly, grasping onto her shoulders to pull her in for a tight hug, "Come on… It's been a long day… Let's get some sleep"

He climbed into the bed, helping her in before pressing her back against his chest, and laying an arm over her waist so that his hand could brush the soft curve of her belly. She doesn't flinch this time, and pressed herself closer to him, snuggling into his body. And the last thought before Dimitri fell into the deep sleep of bliss was.

_I'm going to be a father._

* * *

Morning after morning Dimitri awoke to the morning sunshine filtering though the curtains of the of the trailer. Neither days did he still come to believe that he was going to be a father.

Rose was still asleep in front of him, she must have changed her position through the night because he swore that she did not have her hand on her stomach last night. She was sleeping contently, her hand just lay on top of where their baby was growing. His heart leapt a few beats, smiling at the small gesture that Rose made during her sleep.

They were going to have a baby.

She woke up a few moments later to Dimitri watching her in her sleep.

"Are you watching me sleep again?" she teased.

"You are so beautiful when you sleep, that cute little snore that you make,"

"Shut up!" she laughed, shoving him on his shoulder. She climbed out of the bed and padded over to the bathroom, but before she made into the bathroom, he grabbed her arm and pulled her out. While she quickly stepped back so that she wouldn't fall backwards, he dashed inside the bathroom, his arms still holding onto hers and tugging her in. He stripped off all of his clothes and teased Rose with a smile. She quickly followed suit and the both ended up in the small cramped shower, kissing like crazed teenagers.

* * *

Dimitri loved his hands around Rose's stomach, she stood at the handrail of the ferry, while he was standing right behind her. They were having their Titanic moment. He laughed at himself for thinking such a cheesy thought, but today he can be cheesy because he was happy.

He could picture a little girl, running around on the ferry, calling his name as they she sees something that she liked. Her gorgeous brown hair exactly like Rose's cascading down to her shoulders.

_"Daddy!" she would yell._

And the sound of her soft voice, like a child's version of Rose's, would capture his attention and he would lift her up and swing her around as she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and holding on tight. He would see her mother walking up to join them, smiling as she did so. She would press a small kiss onto their daughter's forehead and lean her head onto his shoulder as he'd wrap his other arm around her too. They would be the perfect family.

He chuckled at himself after pulling out of his daydream. He had always wanted this, a family with the love of his life. He pulled himself slightly away, taking a hold of her shoulder and running his hands down the length of her arm until he reached her hands, where he held them in his own, linking their fingers together. He rested his chin on the nape of Rose's neck and pressed a soft kiss, sending shivers down her spine. He slid both hands around her waist, letting them sit on the small bump of her abdomen.

* * *

Little did he know Rose was picturing Dimitri with a little boy, as they sat together at the docks by the lake of his land. Fishing rods in their hands waiting for the fish to nibble on their bait so that Dimitri can see the look of glee on their son's face as they caught fish.

_"Mommy! Look! I got one! I got one!" the little boy would shout._

The little boy with unruly curls as dark as Dimitri's, with the same smile, dashes up to her holding the slimy fish in his hands with the look of the utmost excitement.

_"Good work my man" she would reply patting his back, and pushing him back to the dock to meet his father._

Maybe she _can_ do it.

Maybe she _can_ be a good mother.

Maybe_ just maybe._

* * *

The moment they enter the hospital, Lissa is racing towards Rose, and pulls her into the resident locker room, before Dimitri even had the chance to tell her to have a good day. He walked past the door, glimpsing inside to see Lissa bombarding his fiancée with thousands of questions. He shook his head with a laugh and kept walking towards his office.

"So? Are you pregnant? Do I need to offer you a congratulations? Do you wanna hug it out? Did you tell Dimitri?" Lissa asked, as she pulled her into the locker room.

"Lissa! Chill out! One question at a time!" Rose laughed at her best friend as she dumped the load of questions.

Lissa didn't reply, just motioning for Rose to continue.

"Fine. Yes."

"Oh MY GOD!" Lissa squealed, pulling Rose into a hug anyway, before muttering the most reassuring words, "You are going to be an amazing mom, Rose!"

"Thank you Liss." She breathed out in relief.

She can do this.

* * *

His heart ached for his lost wife and son, taken from him much too soon, he loved the feeling of the pistol that he held in his hands, ready to take vengeance on the people that took his family from him.

He walked into the hospital doors, and stood in the lobby, taking in every single detail of the place before turning the place upside down in search for the man who took everything.

He shoved his hands into his pockets where the gun and flask of vodka was held and strolled into the hallways. He listened carefully at the voices of the hospital and recognised on almost immediately. The chief of surgery stood 20 feet from where he stood, in a slight panic he dashed inside the supply room, just to his left.

He walked further inwards, a doctor was just on the other side of the shelves.

"Excuse me?" He asked the strange doctor, "Where can I find Dr. Belikov?"

"Sir, you are not supposed to be back here."

"Where can I find Dr. Belikov?"

"I'm not sure, he would most likely be in his office, I can't really help you, Sorry, I have a lot of patients to attend to."

"I'm sure you do." He replied, pulling the gun out of his pocket and raising it to shoot the doctor in the head. Just as he opened fire, the elevator door opened to reveal Eddie.

"Dude!? What the hell?" Eddie exclaimed, rushing up to the fallen doctor, but Victor took another shot at the approaching doctor, hitting him in the side of the chest, as he spun to dodge the bullet.

Victor quickly raced off, moving faster away from the scene. He wasn't planning to kill those two people, but they were in his way.

* * *

_Lockdown_ scrawled across her pager. Rose laughed at the idea of another drill, the last time the fire alarm went off, they all had to stand outside in the rain after the fake evacuation. She strolled through the strangely empty hallways and came across a slumped over Lissa on the empty gurney. Lissa was leaning over, shoulders slightly hunched to write on the charts on her lap.

"Hey! Did you get that page?" she asked, approaching her best friend.

"Yeah... It's probably just another one of those drills." Lissa replied, causing her friend to double in laughter at how much the girls thought alike.

"You know what? I'm craving a strawberry milkshake, let's go."

"A few weeks in and already getting cravings? Wow, you're not holding back." Lissa laughed launching herself of the gurney to walk alongside Rose and dumping the charts at the empty nurse station.

"Lissa?" she questioned.

"Yeah?" Lissa replied.

"Shut up."

They walked slowly across the lobby and up the stair case, just chattering away at each other. Not realising that Dimitri was racing down the hallway towards them. He grabbed a hold of Rose's arm as he reached them, causing both of them to jump in surprise.

"Geez Dimitri can you be anymore quiet?" Rose exclaimed, smiling at the sudden presence of her fiancée.

"What are you doing up here?" he questioned quickly.

"Getting a milkshake?"

"Didn't you get the page? We're in lockdown. You aren't supposed to move, stay where you are. No one in. No one out." He seethed.

"We got it, but we didn't know we had to stay in the same place…" Lissa replied.

"There is a shooter loose in the hospital, Come." Was all he said after, tugging Rose and Lissa into the nearest storage room, "Stay in here. Don't move, not until I tell you, you can go."

Both girls just nodded in shock taking in the words of a shooter.

"I'll come get you when it's safe."

"What about you?" Rose said frantically, rushing up to the door trying to stop him from leaving. She could feel the bile in her throat rising slowly at the idea of Dimitri roaming around the hospital with a shooter on the loose.

"I need to find the Chief," He replied sternly, "Stay. Here."

Before Rose could stop him, he closed the door in her face and rushed off back down the hallway. She fell towards the floor, pressed up against the closed door. Her tears threatened to fall down her face. Just when everything was beginning to fall into place, something like this happened. What was once her safe haven, was now the pinnacle of danger.

A soft thump of the swinging door, alerted both Lissa and Rose. Lissa shot up and peeked through the tiny window in the door. It was a man, opening the swinging doors leading to the catwalk, he had one hand in his pocket, the other handing down holding the gun and he was going in the direction Dimitri was running towards. But what shocked Lissa even more was the fact that she recognised the face that belonged to the man with the gun.

"Oh my god. That's Victor Dashkov. Shit! He's the shooter!" Lissa gasped in surprise, but only to realise what that had meant "That means he's after… Dimitri."

Rose couldn't hold in her nausea in any longer, and threw up into the storage box in the corner.

* * *

**A/N – Don't you just LOVE CLIFFHANGERS!? I love teasing you guys with it ahahahahaha.**

**I guess introducing the Victor Dashkov equivalent to this story, kinda gave away the fact that something bad was going to happen.**

**Hopefully I can finish this story before the end of my holiday… o.O**

**ANYWAY Until next time!~ **


	32. Ave Atque Vale

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**A/N – mwahahahaha Part two of the story arc!**

* * *

**Chapter 32**

Lockdown.

That's the message that appears of Mia's pager just as she entered her room.

_Must be another one of those drills._ She thought to herself. Even despite her patient status at the hospital her pager still sat on her bedside table, and still alerted her to the things going on at the hospital

Mason followed her into the room not that much later than her. She climbed into her bed, and wrapped herself up in the blanket. She smiled at Mason's persistence at checking her charts every 5 minutes when he came by her room, always excusing himself to being 'vigilant' considering her tumor had caused many problems the past few months but he, as a doctor, didn't pick up all the signs of Mia being sick herself.

She didn't blame him for feeling that way. She felt it too. She was a doctor herself and yet the fact that she had been seeing Aaron's dead ghost the past few months was nothing short of normal. So the fact that there was a horrible vibe floating around her heart was surely nothing.

But she was so wrong.

Mia laughed again at Mason's terrible jokes, like

Doctor! Doctor! I've swallowed a roll of film!

Let's hope nothing develops.

She had to admit even the terrible jokes were horrendously funny. But his next one must have been the most ironic of them all.

How does a shooter write a formal letter?

A snipewriter.

"Shit! He's on the floor!" a nurse yelled as she ran past her door.

But before Mia could begin comprehending what the nurse was screaming about, the sounds of a gun firing captured her and Mason's attention. Mason glanced over at her, fear racing through his blood, she can see it in his eyes. She peered out the small window on the closed door of the room and spotted the man with the gun almost immediately because he has his gun pointed at the security guard of her floor. She sees it before she heard it, the finger pulled back to press the trigger and the bullet racing into the chest of the now fallen security guard. The sound shocked her to the very core, her fingers trembled as she watched on at the back of the shooter. The shooter turned and looked in her direction. She kneeled down quickly pressing her back against the door as she began recognising the shooter.

Victor Dashkov

She peered out the small window again to see where he was at now. But what scared her even more was the fact that he was approaching her closed door. In the rush of adrenaline, she gestured to Mason to hide in the adjoining bathroom, and she slipped under the bed. Just as she managed to pull her legs under, the door opened.

She can hear his voice, he was mumbling to himself and then there was a rustle of the bed sheet above her.

Suddenly, there is a small clatter of something landing on the tiles in the bathroom.

Mason! She remembered.

The sound of Victors footsteps appeared on her right, straight to the pathway to the bathroom

Shit! Mason is in there!

The door opened, and Mason's elevated breathing can e heard more clearly now.

"Are you a surgeon?" Victor questioned clearly.

"Yy... Yes sir" Mason replied with a stutter.

"You killed her." Victor said before pulling the trigger on Mason.

Mia's heart skipped a beat, tears began welling in her eyes. A loud thump and the slight rush of air made her open her eyes. She was now face to face with Mason, he was still alive, his breathing laboured and his body shuddered dangerous, slightly convulsing in shock.

How desperate she wanted to reach out to take his hand and ease some of the fear. But her own fears doubled almost immediately as she could feel two chilling hands wrapped around her feet and pulling her out of her hiding spot. She desperately scrapped her nails on the ground, frantically trying to grip onto the slippery floors of the room. It was an instinct, her sweating fingers tried to latch onto the ground. Hoping that by some miracle she could develop the fingers of Spiderman, so she could hold on tighter. But her efforts were futile, because seconds later she looked up straight into the eyes of Victor Dashkov and a gun pointed in her face. Fear rocked her body as Victor began opening his mouth to speak.

"Are you a surgeon?" He asked, flicking the gun's hammer ready to take another shot. She completely forgot that she was in her scrubs, after realising the giant hole in the back of the patient robe, revealing her ass to the world. She wanted to keep as much dignity as she could. And now since she was in scrubs Victor had a gun pointed in her face. Some dignity she had.

"N..n.. No.. I'm a nurse!" She replied, she knew it was cowardly, but it needed to be done, her best friend was shaking violently on the floor, and she was the only one there who could help him. Everyone else had probably ran away or been shot dead. She really hoped that Victor would leave, despite her unconvincing confession.

"I'm sorry" Victor said and turned to open the door to exit the room.

Once she knew he was out of range she could feel some relief from the fear that had racked her body. She could still hear Mason's sharp and quick breathing and jumped into action. She reached over to the cabinet opening up the draws to reveal obscene amounts of gauze. She peeled open the wrapping and immediately pushed down against the bullet wound on Mason's abdomen.

"That was smart" he rasped.

"No, it was cowardly" she replied, the tears falling freely down her face.

* * *

Rose needed to leave. She needed to get out of the room. She needed Dimitri. For him to be safe with them in the room, they were locked in. She stood up quickly, pushing herself towards the door, only to be stopped by Lissa.

"You are not leaving this room," Lissa said sternly, "You will have to go through me!"

She stands up straighter, putting on a tough stance to stop rose from chasing after Dimitri.

But the adrenaline in Rose's body, pushed Lissa to the side, giving her open space to leave the room. she dashed outside and raced out to the lobby. She almost immediately sees Dimitri and Victor facing each other on the catwalk, Victor's gun pointed at Dimitri while he had his hand up as if he were trying to calm Victor down. It seemed to be working because Victor began to lower his gun.

Relief begins to relax her body, but it's only shot back up, as a frightened nurse opened the door to the catwalk. Victor takes the opportunity and re-raised his gun and firing it straight at Dimitri's chest. The sound of the shot reverberates of the glass panels and across the lobby. Then the room is filled with a shocking amount of silence. She could tell she was screaming his name, but she couldn't hear anything. She lurched forward, but was grabbed by strong hands and holding her back. She desperately wanted to race up to the catwalk towards Dimitri's falling form. Her mind was then set on replay, as Dimitri's body bent forward as the shockwave of the bullet embedded itself into his chest.

Victor moved, turned and walked back off the catwalk. Lissa's hand let go of her arm and Rose is off, flying up the stairs leading to the catwalk. She reached him only seconds later, clutching at his chest, not caring that his blood was seeping through her fingers. She pushed hard on his chest, and begged to God that he would stop bleeding. Lissa appeared minutes later with a wheelchair, telling her that they needed to get him to the OR floor.

She helped him into the chair, still trying hold pressure on the chest wound

"Stay with me Comrade," she cried, clutching at this chest. She pressed her forehead to his, "Stay awake for me."

"R…r…ozaa" he gasped, his face began to pale, turning a bright shade of white. Tears poured down her face as she wrapped her legs around his torso, letting Lissa push the wheelchair towards the emergency elevator to get down to the OR floor.

* * *

Dimitri stared at the man in front of him, the hollow shaft of the gun being pointed directly at him. He felt helpless, and alone. There was no one else on this floor, he had hidden his fiancée and her friend in the storage room in the floor below. There was nothing they could do. He was going to die. He was going to leave his family, his love. No.

"Mr. Dashkov," he spoke up calmly, lifting his hand slowly. He stepped a little closer to the man with the trembling hands, "Please, you don't want to do this."

"You took them from me! You ruined my life! I DO want to do this!" Victor screamed.

"Mr. Dashkov, I know how you feel…"

"The hell you don't!"

"My father… he was taken from me… shot by two men robbing his store, just because he wouldn't give them his watch. My mother saved a lot of money for that watch. And the shot him right in front of my eyes. For the damn watch. I know what it's like to lose someone you love, so please, put the gun down and let me help you."

Victor began to lower his gun, he felt sympathy for the man in front of him. He didn't deserve everything that happened to him. His wife wasn't supposed to die. It was an aneurysm clipping, he'd done it thousands of time and yet that time he nicked it. Leading to a chain of events that no one expected, eventually killing his patient.

The sound of the door opened and a nurse came rushing through screaming in hysteria as she realised the events unfolding before her. Dimitri turned around and mouthed 'Go' and refaced his opponent only to be at the aim point of the barrel of the gun. Before he could blink he hears the firing of the gun, the bullet embedded itself into his chest. A sear roaring of pain raced across his chest, he felt his body arch backwards, bending awkwardly at where the bullet had pierced him.

He hear the faint screams of a voice, someone who was far. He fell to the ground, his head bouncing off the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut for the faintest second and felt the pulls of death drawing him closer. He fought against it, opening his eyes forcefully and breathing in a sharp breath, which hurt more than anything he had ever felt in his life.

He slid his hand over to where the pain was resonating from, the stickiness of the blood that was seeping through his scrubs. Breathing grew harder and harder, and he faintly saw the face of the nurse that had burst through the door, her hands shook as she approached his fallen body.

His eyes fell shut again, only he opened them to the sound of the most beautiful voice and being violently shaken.

"Dimitri!" the voice said. "Stay awake! Please! I need you to stay awake!"

Was he dreaming? Because it felt like heaven.

The frantic voice of Rose being turned into a soft melody, the roof above him span in never ending circles. He could feel the soft touches of Rose's hands on his chest. From the way she was holding down on the wound he knew he wasn't feeling as much of the pain that he should have been feeling.

Another voice joined them on the catwalk, followed by the creaking wheels of something.

"Get… out… of… here…" he whispered, when he realised that Victor could still be nearby. He couldn't have her get hurt. But she couldn't hear him, probably the voices in her mind overwhelming her senses and totally disregarding his words. Another set of hands held onto his arms and pulled him up onto a wheelchair

"Stay with me Comrade," she cried, he could feel her breath on his lips as she brought her head closer to his, he forehead resting on his own. "Stay awake for me."

"R…r…ozaa" he exhaled, before the third round of consciousness took over his body.

And now he was paying for the price. The other shoe… has dropped.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mia was still clutching at Mason's bleeding abdomen and she was starting to sit in his blood, as it poured into a puddle around her. She needed to get him to the elevators to get them down to an OR. Mason needed help and he needed help now. But there was one problem, Mason is a man, probably a very heavy man and there was no way she alone and is sick, could manage to carry him all the way to the elevators. She needed something to help,

The bed sheet.

She yanked the bed sheet off the bed and laid it out next to him. She gently rolled him over to shift the sheet under him. She dragged his bleeding body out the door towards the elevators, checking left and right for the shooter. She raced up to the press the buttons, but nothing happened, the usual light up of the arrows didn't switch on.

"No… NO!" She screamed as she realised what had happened, "They shut down the fucking elevators," she sighed, falling to the floor, "There is usually a hum, when the elevators are working, they hum. The emergency elevator, it's too far… we… we… won't make it."

"Miaaa…" Mason whispered, "It's coldddd…"

She turned to his shivering body, his face as white as the stark white sheets that he lay on top of, blood drained from his face. His eyes drooped gently, as another shudder rocked his body.

"I know it's cold honey, everything will be okay," she assured, she knew that he knew she was lying, they were both doctors after all. She lifted his head into her lap, and stroked the soft red curls of his head. She just lulled and tried to hush him, continuing to brush his hair out of his face, as she continued to cry. His lips trembled from the chills of the cold air, the energy of the hospital, fading the longer they sat. The floor was too quiet, way too quiet. There was nothing she could do anymore, everything was out of her hands, the only things she could do were be there when Mason passed. She wept as his body shuddered from the chills, she didn't want to be here watching her best friend die.

"I'm dying…" he murmured.

"I'm sorry, Mason…" she replied, grasping his hands, holding them to her chest, "I'll be here… You are not alone"

"I love you, Mason," she whispered as she bent over and kissed his cold lips. She could feel the faint breath on her lips, but that's the last she felt it, her lips hovered over his for a while, and she wept even harder. She lifted her fingers to his neck desperately hoping that his pulse would still throb under her fingers. But she couldn't, her fingers were still, and not even the slightest nudge of his pulse could be felt. She slumped down even further, pulling his body closer to her chest.

He was gone.

* * *

**A/N – I know… I just killed Mason… oops… lol**

**Apologises for the repeat in the middle. You know RPOV then DPOV... short chapter if i didnt have it. and i wanted Mason's death to be the last thing so...**

**The shooting crisis continues in part 3. Until next time! **


End file.
